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Jonathan Drouin playing Game 4 after knee-on-knee, Baie-Comeau’s Alexandre Ranger suspended; Halifax Mooseheads seek response to first QMJHL playoff loss

Neate Sager

Jo is good to go, but how good that will be will not be known until he takes the ice. On Tuesday, the Halifax Mooseheads were doubly dinged when Jonathan Drouin went out of the game following a knee-on-knee collision with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar's Alexandre Ranger that was not penalized. During his absence, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar took the lead and went on to a 3-1 win to shave the Mooseheads' President's Cup final lead to 2-1.

(The play starts 0:54 into Halifax broadcaster John Moore's recap.)

The word is Drouin will play on Wednesday. Ranger has been suspended.

The way the Mooseheads' potency dipped while he was out of the game might seem like a bad harbinger for the Haligonians.

From Willy Palov (@CH_WillyPalov):

The Mooseheads got a huge scare six minutes into the second period when star forward Jonathan Drouin collided knee-on-knee with Baie-Comeau winger Alexandre Ranger just inside the Drakkar blue-line. Drouin immediately grabbed his right leg and hobbled off in distress. He did not return for the rest of the period but came back out for the third.

“He was good enough to come back and we’ll know more (later),” [Mooseheads coach Dominique] Ducharme said. “Right now he’s going to have more time with the doctor and we’ll know more tomorrow morning when he gets up.”

The injury to Drouin also seemed to shift the momentum in the Drakkar’s favour. They had a strong stretch to close out the period and also scored the game’s first goal. Valentin Zykov got in alone on Zachary Fucale and beat him with a nice shot at the 14:10 mark of the second period to send the packed house into a frenzy. (Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

It's something else for Drouin to fight through as he tries to cement his status as a top 3 to top 5 pick in the entry draft next month. Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman, who drafts No. 3 overall on June 30, recently told Palov, "There's probably more than a top three" in the 2013 draft class. Point being, while Drouin's health should be the immediate concern, this does set up as a test for him. How does he reply after nearly being taken out?

From Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL):

Drouin leads all scorers in the playoffs with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 15 games. However, he has just one assist in the first three games of the league final as Baie-Comeau has done a good job containing the ultra-talented playmaker. Drouin's teammate, center Nathan MacKinnon, third in playoff scoring with 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists), also has been held in check, with one assist in three games. MacKinnon is ranked No. 2 on Central Scouting's final list. (NHL.com)

Drouin and MacKinnon were relatively quiet in the league quarter-final vs. Gatineau, which Halifax swept in four close games. The Drakkar are a more formidable foe than the Olympiques were, though.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.