Penguins' Maatta not interested in watching Niederreiter hit
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta insists he's feeling better after an awkward fall sent him to the hospital last month.
Just don't ask him to talk about it.
"I can’t really remember what happened, it happened so quickly," the 21-year-old Finn told the team's website on Monday. "It didn’t feel good. ... I actually haven’t even seen it. I don’t really want to watch it. It really doesn’t matter."
For the sake of background, Maatta suffered an upper-body injury after he was hit by Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter during their game on Nov. 17. The force of the blow sent Maatta backward at the precise moment that Wild backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper opened the door for a line change.
Maatta, who was originally scheduled to miss three-to-five weeks, returned to practice on Monday but has yet to be cleared for contact. There is no timetable for his return to game action.
The 22nd overall pick of the 2012 draft, Maatta has scored two goals and set up as many in 18 games this season and recorded 42 points (12 goals, 30 assists) in 116 career contests.
