Islanders’ Johnny Boychuk smiling after being a ‘milli-inch’ from tragedy
It wasn’t where it hit, but how it hit. And that could have been the difference between life and death.
Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk was part of one of hockey’s scariest possible moments on Thursday night at the Coliseum when he took a skate blade to the throat. Late in the second period, he had hit Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner along the wall, and Marner was upended and his left blade got Boychuk on the left side of his neck.
Quickly, thoughts of Clint Malarchuk and Richard Zednik came rushing to mind. Tragedy seemed like it could have been imminent, and even the raucous crowd hushed for a few moments.
But the blade hit Boychuk flush, and came right off. If it had hit and then slid, it could very well have slashed Boychuk’s throat open and he could have bled out there on the Coliseum ice.
But it didn’t. That’s a fact not lost on Boychuk; not in the moment, and not a day later.
“It was really scary,” Boychuck said Friday morning, about a three-inch cut on the side of his neck looking more like an abrasion than the remnants of a life-or-death moment. “You feel it hit your neck, just thoughts go through your mind. It was really scary. I’m just happy that nothing serious happened.”
Boychuk, who played in the Islanders’ 3-1 loss to the Capitals on Friday night, hustled to the locker room after the incident, holding a towel to his neck. He returned to the bench for the third period, but was visibly shaken up. He only took five more shifts in what would be an emotionally charged 6-1 win over former captain John Tavares and the Maple Leafs, and they were tepid shifts for the normally abrasive blueliner.
“In between periods when I went off, I was in shambles,” Boychuk said. “It was tough to even go out there again in the third and play a couple shifts, and I kept them extremely short. Just wanted to help out in any way possible.”
The emotion of the moment wasn’t lost on the team, either. Coach Barry Trotz knew how bad the incident could have been, saying after the game that it was “a milli-inch” away from tragedy. He also knew how deeply it affected Boychuk.
“Johnny was more shaken up mentally from that, because you almost have that near-death experience, it can shake you up a little bit,” Trotz said Friday morning before he happily dressed Boychuk for the second leg of this home back-to-back, against the Capitals.
“It looked like he had seen a ghost. [Friday] morning I talked to him, and he’s fine. But so many things that race through your head — your dad, your family, all that stuff — when you think you could be lying on the ice in a pool of blood. He was very lucky.”
Boychuk, 35, is a father of 5-year-old twin girls. He came to the Islanders as the result of a salary-cap induced trade in the summer of 2014 after being a beloved member of the Bruins for parts of five seasons, including 2011 when they won a Stanley Cup. But Boston couldn’t keep him under a tight cap squeeze, and the Islanders obtained him for two second-round picks.
Before the end of that first season, they signed him to a seven-year, $42 million contract. Despite battling some injuries the past two years, he is unquestionably one of the most influential voices in the young locker room — especially since the departure of Tavares.
He is also one of the funniest players in the locker room, with his deadpan deliveries cracking up his teammates and anyone within earshot. Even after such a harrowing instance, he managed to dig up a line from the movie “Old School” to bring some levity.
“Just have to keep your composure, like Will Ferrell says,” Boychuk said with a straight face. “Just keep on trucking.”
It was easy to laugh about after the fact, because Boychuk was not only alive, but he was playing hockey again. Sometimes, the monumental differences between comedy and tragedy can be incredibly small.
“Last night was difficult,” Boychuk said, “but it’s a new day.”
Veteran forward Andrew Ladd was a planned healthy scratch Friday. Ladd had returned to play the previous two games after being out since Nov. 13 due to a lower-body injury.
“It wasn’t based on play,” Trotz explained. “I’ve seen guys come back from long injuries, then we’re asking a player to play three games in [four nights], I don’t think that’s the best scenario.”
Trotz said he expects Ladd to be in the lineup for Sunday’s Coliseum matinee against the Flyers.
Ladd’s replacement, Tom Kuhnhackl, scored his fourth goal of the season just 2:43 into the first period on a breakaway.
Fourth-line stalwart Matt Martin was a late scratch with an undisclosed upper-body injury. He was labeled as “day-to-day.” Martin was replaced by the pugilistic Ross Johnston.
Trotz remains stuck on 799 career wins.