There was a scary scene at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.
With just over 11 minutes remaining in the third period of the Islanders' 6-2 loss to the Canadiens, New York's Johnny Boychuk and Montreal's Artturi Lehkonen got tangled up in front of the home team's net. Boychuk pushed Lehkonen out of the crease, and as the Montreal forward fell, his right skate came up and clipped Boychuk in the face.
The Islanders defenseman immediately grabbed his face and was in obvious pain on the ice. He quickly got up and skated to the locker room; his hand appeared to be over his left eye.
Wednesday morning, GM Lou Lamoriello updated Boychuk's status and told reporters he would be "OK" and that there was "no damage" to the 36-year-old's eye. The skate did cause a cut so severe that it required 90 stitches to close.
"He felt the skate blade get his eye, but fortunately it just got the eyelid. It took 90 stitches to fix but the plastic surgeon took care of it," Lamoriello said. "He'll be fine. It's just a matter of time with the eye opening up and him feeling good."
Wednesday afternoon Boychuk went on Twitter to let everyone know he was ok:
Thank you to everyone for the positive messages and thoughts! I am extremely grateful. Please know they did not go unheard. Luckily for me the skate only cut my eyelid. Sorry for the late response...facial recognition wasn’t working... thank you again my friends. Johnny B
— Johnny Boychuk (@joboych) March 4, 2020
(NOTE: Some may consider the video graphic.)
SCARY!#Isles Johnny Boychuk takes #Habs Artturi Lehkonen's skate in the face pic.twitter.com/KyViUvgtX3
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) March 4, 2020
After the game, Islanders coach Barry Trotz told reporters that Boychuk was still being evaluated.
Trotz: “No update on Johnny Boychuk. It’s pretty scary obviously around the facial/eye area. He’s being evaluated.” #Isles
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) March 4, 2020
The exact injury and its severity were difficult to determine from the video. Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck told NHL.com's Brian Compton after the game: "It's not good. It's not easy to see. Not good at all."
No update from Trotz on Boychyuk. Cal Clutterbuck was understandably upset. "It's not good. It's not easy to see. Not good at all." #Isles
— Brian Compton (@BComptonNHL) March 4, 2020
Claude Julien coached Boychuk in BOS. "Real scary. I've reached out and I've texted Barry. A guy I've coached for a lot of years and is liked by everybody. Great person." #Habs #Isles
— Brian Compton (@BComptonNHL) March 4, 2020
Clutterbuck knows what a skate blade can do. He just returned to the lineup Saturday after missing more than two months following surgery to repair a wrist that was cut by a skate blade in December. Islanders players are not the only ones to be cut this year. The list includes the Maple Leafs' Ilya Mikheyev, who also underwent surgery on a severed artery and wrist tendon in late December and recently resumed skating.
Earlier on Tuesday, TSN's Frank Seravalli reported that NHL general managers at their meetings in Florida were shown new cutproof and Kevlar-reinforced undergarments to help prevent skate cuts like the ones suffered by Clutterbuck and Mikheyev. Kevlar socks became more popular following Erik Karlsson's surgery in 2013 to repair a sliced Achilles tendon.
GMs heard a presentation today on new cutproof / kevlar reinforced undergarments, to prevent injury like the skate cut #Leafs’ Ilya Mikheyev suffered earlier this season. Plan is for a poster of all available items to be posted in league dressing rooms so players are aware.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 3, 2020
Obviously, the Kevlar would not have helped in Boychuk's case; however, it did appear that the visor he was wearing — which became mandatory in 2013 — took the brunt of the skate's impact.
Last season, Boychuk took a skate blade to the neck from the Maple Leafs' Mitchell Marner that luckily did not slice his throat and just left a mark from the incident.
“It was really scary,” Boychuk said the following morning to reporters. “You feel it hit your neck, just thoughts go through your mind. It was really scary. I’m just happy that nothing serious happened."