Panthers' Zednick Injured by Skate, Rushed to Hospital
Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik successfully underwent a two-hour operation after being struck by a teammate's skate during Sunday night's Sabres game.
Zednik was behind the play and skating into the right corner of the Sabres' zone when teammate Olli Jokinen was upended by Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur during the third period.
Jokinen fell head-first to the ice, and his right leg flew up and struck Zednik directly on the side of the neck.
Zednik was clutching the right side of his neck as he raced to the Florida bench, leaving a long trail of blood that could be seen from the goal line in the Sabres' zone all the way to the Panthers' bench at the HSBC arena.
A Sabres trainer jumped on the ice to apply a towel across the player's neck, and Zednik was immediately escorted to the Panthers' dressing room.
Play was stopped for more than 15 minutes as crews scraped the blood from the ice.
Zednick was transported to Buffalo General Hospital. He is in stable condition.
2 On Your Side has learned that Zednick's wife will be flown into Buffalo by the Panthers. Florida's assistant general manager will stay behind while the rest of the team has flown back to Florida.Tags:PanthersRichardZednickInjuredbySkateRushedHospitalNeckSlashCutHitneck
