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Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk received 90 stitches to repair a facial laceration he sustained during the third period against the Montreal Canadiens.
The skate of Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen clipped Boychuk, 36, in the face on Tuesday night. Boychuk didn't wait to be tended to by the Islanders medical staff, but instead hurried down the tunnel and toward the locker room.
"Johnny Boychuk is OK," said general manager Lou Lamoriello. "There's been no damage to his eye. He had quite a night. First of all, you don't know what happened. He felt the skate blade hit his eye, but fortuanately it just got the eyelid and they took 90 stitches to fix. He'll be fine. It's just a matter of time with the eye opening up."
"I really hope it didn't hit him in the eye or anything like that," Lehkonen said, via TSN. "But it was scary, for sure. I felt it right away that it hit somewhere high, so it was like I just turned around and ... I didn't know really what to do."
The concern revolved around whether or not the blade made contact with Boychuk's eye. Last month, Red Wings forward Brendan Perlini sustained a similar injury when he was cut in the face. Perlini's injury reportedly required 22 stitches. Boychuk's teammate Casey Cizikas suffered a leg laceration and missed nearly a month before he returned to the lineup earlier this month.
"Thank you to everyone for the positive messages and thoughts! I am extremely grateful," Johnny Boychuk posted on social media. "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."