Former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom was intentionally injured by New York Rangers defenseman Ben Harpur as a result of a disgusting hit towards the end of an AHL game between the Rochester Americans and Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night.
The Americans were working to defend Hartford’s forecheck when Harpur darted up the ice from the point, skating through Sandstrom and putting his right shoulder into Sandstrom’s head so forcefully that the former Flyers goalie fell backwards, knocking the net off its moorings.
Sandstrom, who played for the Flyers as recently as last season, was injured on the play and needed to be helped off the ice. Americans head coach Mike Leone later revealed that Sandstrom suffered an upper-body injury.
As a consequence of his foolish and gutless actions, Harpur was assessed a five-minute major penalty for charging and was ejected from the game with a game misconduct.
Many fans have postulated that Harpur went after Sandstrom in retribution for a play that caused Harpur to suffer a season-ending injury last season.
Harpur scored against Sandstrom when he was in the Flyers organization with Lehigh Valley last season, but Sandstrom injured Harpur by tripping him into the boards whilst pushing across in his goal crease attempting to make a save.
Sandstrom, 27, has played 30 career NHL games, all with the Flyers, going 4-18-4 with a 3.66 GAA and .880 save percentage. A former third-round pick of the Flyers in 2015, Sandstrom was pressed into action as a backup goalie last season, managing to go only 1-2-0 in five games to go along with a 3.87 GAA and .823 save percentage.
As a result of his injury in the collision with Sandstrom, Harpur played only seven games for Hartford last season. The 29-year-old defenseman is in the last year of a two-year, $1.575 million contract extension he signed with the Rangers on Jan. 26, 2023.
