St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway told reporters Wednesday that he is feeling “way better,” one day after he was hit in the neck by a puck during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I feel good today,” Holloway said. “I feel way better. Obviously, it’s a scary situation. From what I’ve been told, the puck hit my Vagus nerve in my neck. As soon as I got hit, I knew something was a little off. But then I saw we had a two-on-one, so I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. As soon as I got to the bench, I felt a little woozy and didn’t remember much from there until I was on the stretcher.”
The incident took place in the first period of Tuesday night’s game at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Lightning forward Nick Paul took a shot that deflected off the stick of Jordan Kyrou of the Blues and hit Holloway up high. He continued playing, skating up ice and nearly getting a scoring opportunity at the other end. Nearly a minute later, as he was heading to the bench at the end of his shift, he began feeling discomfort and teammate Alexey Toropchenko quickly notified the athletic training staff.
After receiving medical attention, Holloway was loaded onto a stretcher and moved from the Blues’ bench to the dressing room. The game had been halted during that time and with 1:11 remaining in the period. Officials chose to end the period and resume play with time added on to the second period.
Holloway was taken to a local hospital and was alert and in stable condition. He was discharged a few hours later.
Holloway was told by doctors to rest Wednesday and see how he feels on Thursday with the possibility he could be back in the Blues’ lineup for their game against Utah.
“They told me no activity for 24 hours and then I’m good to go,” Holloway said. “I’m hoping to play [Thursday], but we’ll see.”