Carolina Hurricanes' Seth Jarvis, Antti Raanta start offseason in recovery mode

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Carolina Hurricanes rookie Seth Jarvis took a beating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including a jarring hit that left him with an apparent concussion and spotty memories in the aftermath.

Goaltender Antti Raanta is dealing with an MCL sprain that would've likely had him out six to eight weeks even had Carolina not lost to the New York Rangers in Game 7 on Monday.

Jarvis is feeling better now that the headache has faded, but he's still in a "fog" and sluggish, with lingering dental work ahead from a separate injury.

"Whatever sport you play, it's going to take a toll in different ways," Jarvis said Thursday. "Obviously hockey is a fast, physical sport so it's going to kind of wear and tear you a little bit more. But if I worried about [injuries], I wouldn't be playing hockey."

Jarvis was leveled by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba in the first period of Game 7 with a high hit. Raanta went down in the second after extending his right leg for a stop on New York's Mika Zibanejad, then falling facedown on the ice.

Raanta had taken on the starting role after No. 1 goaltender Frederik Andersen went down with a torn MCL in mid-April.

Raanta showed up for Thursday's season-ending interviews with a limp and a black brace on his right knee, and he now must dive into offseason rehab.

"It's kind of where you're not going to take any vacation right now," Raanta said. "It's just to get back out there and get everything done."

The scariest moment came on the Trouba hit, which left Jarvis capable only of crawling back to the bench. Once there, he was too wobbly to even sit upright and needed assistance from multiple teammates to direct him toward the locker room for the rest of the game.

Jarvis said he remembers images of watching the game on TV and teammate Jesperi Kotkaniemi driving him home, but nothing more until "halfway through the next day, probably."

"It's a little bit scary when you don't remember anything," Jarvis said. "I have the doctors telling me what I was doing in the dressing room, and I don't even remember the hit, getting off the ice or anything. So seeing that stuff and hearing from other people is definitely a little bit scary."

Jarvis' first playoff run included being injured taking a puck to the groin on teammate Brendan Smith's slap shot in Game 4 of the first-round series against Boston.

Then, in Game 5 of the New York series, Jarvis dove to stop Rangers forward Ryan Strome's shot from the slot and ended up being hit in the mouth with the shaft of Strome's stick. That left Jarvis bleeding with multiple upper teeth "all bent in" but still in place, although he later returned to the game.

Jarvis' lip swelling has gone down, but he said he needs another set of X-rays and possibly "a couple" of root canals.

Despite all that, Jarvis said, there's no reason "to stop being fearless" on the ice.

"Obviously the concussion, with your head, you want to be careful with that," he said. "But I've been banged up a lot of the year. You always go through nicks and bruises. So It's nothing too new and nothing I think I'm very concerned about at all."