'Down to the bone': Oilers' Kane still smiling after scary skate cut injury

Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane smiled and said he's as "good as I can be" after a skate blade sliced open his wrist in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

Kane went down during a puck battle with Lightning defenceman Philippe Myers early in the second period. While lying on the ice, he was cut by Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon's skate blade.

"I kinda got taken down there and I just remember something, like, hit my wrist and then immediately I just saw blood shoot up," he told reporters in Florida on Friday.

"I knew I was in some trouble and needed some help immediately and just tried to get off the ice as fast as I could."

Kane said he had never seen that much blood before. He thanked the Oilers' medical staff for jumping into action.

"I don't know if they settled me down," he said with a big laugh. "I was yelling at doc (Jeff) Robinson, 'Where is the doctor?' And he said, 'I'm right here.' And I'm like, 'Oh, that's right.'"

"It was pretty painful because they couldn't really give me anything initially. So for the first 20 minutes it wasn't great."

Kane was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery. His teammates finished the game and won 3-2. Several of them called the situation "scary."

"I cut pretty much everything down to the bone. So, yeah, I got really lucky that they were able to reattach everything. They actually had to take some vein from a different part of my arm to help reattach the artery," he explained.

Edmonton Oilers' forward Evander Kane speaks to reporters on November 11, 2022 (Source: Edmonton Oilers.)

The Oilers big power forward said he expects a "full recovery." He will see another doctor on Wednesday. The team has announced he will miss three or four months of hockey.

Kane took a town car from Tampa Bay to Fort Lauderdale to meet the Oilers ahead of their Saturday matchup against the Panthers.

"Absolutely great (to see him)," head coach Jay Woodcroft said. "He had a big smile on his face. I know that the fellas were so excited to see him and see that he was OK."

The Oilers (8-7) faceoff against Florida (8-5-1) shortly after 2 p.m. M.T. Saturday.