Johnny Boychuk on skate blade gash: 'I'm just lucky. Extremely lucky'
Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk after he was hit with a skate during the third period of an NHL hockey game on March 3. Credit: AP / Kathy Willens
CALGARY — His left eye is still swollen and purple and Johnny Boychuk estimated he’s got about “60 percent” of his normal vision.
But the Islanders defenseman, making his first public comments on Wednesday after requiring 90 stitches and plastic surgery when the Canadiens’ Artturi Lehkonen’s skate blade cut him on March 3, could only describe himself as “blessed.”
“Things could have gone way worse,” said Boychuk, who rejoined his teammates on the ice for Wednesday’s practice at Scotiabank Saddledome. “You’ve seen it in the past. You’ve seen the worst and you never want to think that of one of your teammates or yourself. It’s scary, but it’s part of the game. It’s a freak accident and it’s going to happen again to somebody. You don’t want to see it. You just pray for them.”
Boychuk will not be available when the Islanders continue a four-game road trip against the Flames on Thursday night after opening the trek with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Canucks on Tuesday night.
Boychuk skated on his own the previous two days in Vancouver. He was on the ice for all of Wednesday’s practice but did not participate in all of the drills.
“Once the swelling comes down, it’ll be a lot better,” Boychuk said. “I can see probably 60 percent out of that eye. It’s just the swelling that’s pushing it down and it doesn’t feel good when the sweat gets in your eye.”
Lehkonen’s skate blade came up high as he lurched forward while battling for position with Boychuk in front of the Islanders’ crease. Boychuk held his glove to his face and frantically skated off the ice.
“When I was on the ice and I looked down and I couldn’t really see out of that eye and then when I saw blood, I had to get off,” Boychuk said. “I’m just lucky. Extremely lucky.”
Last season. Boychuk had his neck bloodied when the skate blade of the Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner cut him.
“That one was scarier for me personally than the one on the face,” Boychuk said. “If you get one on the neck, it could be life or death. You get one on the side of the face, the chances are you’re not going to die from it but you’re still very scared because you never want to lose an eye.”
Notes & Quotes: Josh Bailey participated in practice after missing the final two periods at Vancouver with an unspecified injury. Anthony Beauvillier was given a maintenance day off. Trotz said he expects both to be available against the Flames. “It’ll be a tomorrow-morning decision but it’s looking promising,” Trotz said. Defenseman Thomas Hickey remained absent from the team as he and his family mourn the death of his older brother, Dan, who died at age 33 from a brain tumor. “Thomas is one of the great people in the game,” Trotz said. “It’s been a real tough year for him and his family. I know our dressing room really feels it.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
More Islanders
