Zednik felt as if he'd been stabbed

Panthers winger talks about scary injury for first time since being cut by skate

Richard Zednik felt a stabbing pain in his neck and knew he had to get to the bench -- fast. Once there, the Florida Panthers right wing thought of his 4-year-old daughter, Ella.

"I remember thinking, 'Am I going to see her grow up?' " Zednik said.

The ghastly accident happened Feb. 10 in Buffalo, N.Y. Teammate Olli Jokinen was upended and his skate swung up, slashing Zednik's neck. His carotid artery was sliced but not severed, and the blade missed his jugular vein.

"I felt like somebody stabbed me," Zednik said Thursday at his first news conference since the injury. "I knew exactly what happened, and I knew exactly what I had to do. ... When I got to the bench, I knew it was an artery, the way the blood was going. I don't want to think about it, but I was in pretty bad shape."

Zednik, 32, underwent surgery and was discharged from Buffalo General Hospital a week ago. He returned to South Florida a day later. Now he wants to play as soon as possible.

"I can't wait to get back and be with the guys," he said.

Zednik bears a long red scar down the right side of his scruffy neck, courtesy of the surgery. The scar intersects the 1 1/2 inch cut left by Jokinen's skate.

Zednik said that during his recovery he's been shopping for cars online and spending time with Ella.

The Panthers' Web site has received more than 20,000 get-well messages.

Zednik also took a call from the president of his native Slovakia, Ivan Gasparovic.

"It was short," Zednik said. "He's such a nice guy."

A video of the accident posted online has been viewed more than a million times, but Zednik said he has seen the footage only once and won't watch it again.

He said he was at first hesitant to see it, but curiosity took over.

"At first when I was in the Buffalo hospital, I was like, 'No, I don't want to watch.' I was like still kind of in shock. But then when I got back to Florida ... I was curious, exactly, how the skate came to the neck," he said. "I watched it once. That's enough."

It's doubtful Zednik will return this season. Florida coach Jacques Martin said he expects Zednik's recovery to take about eight weeks. The regular season ends April 5, and there may be no postseason for the Panthers.

SIMON'S SUSPENSION ENDS: Chris Simon's latest one more chance started Thursday night when he returned to the New York Islanders' lineup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Simon was back after serving a 30-game ban for stomping on the leg of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarkko Ruutu in December. The left winger has played 26 games this season and missed 35 because of two suspensions.

The most recent sanction from the NHL was the longest in terms of games handed down by the league for an on-ice incident. It topped the record-setting, 25-gamer Simon received last season and completed during this season.