EDMONTON -- Johnny Boychuk thanked the hockey community for their concerns Wednesday while recovering from a cut to his eyelid that took a plastic surgeon 90 stitches to close.
The Edmonton-born New York Islanders’ defenceman was injured Tuesday night when he was struck in the face by an opponent's skate, a play his coach described as “scary.”
“Luckily for me the skate only cut my eyelid,” Boychuk wrote on Twitter.
“Thank you to everyone for the positive thoughts! I am extremely grateful,” he said, adding, “Sorry for the late response…facial recognition wasn’t working.”
Boychuk was battling in front of the Islanders’ net when Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen fell down, his skate blade rose in the process and hit Boychuk directly in the face.
The veteran defenceman was down on the ice briefly, his face covered by his glove. He then got up on his own and quickly skated to the dressing room, followed by a team trainer.
“Johnny Boychuk is OK. There has been no damage to his eye,” Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello told reporters Wednesday.
“Fortunately, it was just the eyelid that took 90 stitches to fix. A plastic surgeon took care of it,” he continued.
Lamoriello said there was no timetable for Boychuk’s return to the ice.
Boychuk took the Stanley Cup to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in 2011 after winning the league championship with the Boston Bruins.
