Advertisement

Freak skate cut puts Stars' Patrik Nemeth out for regular season, possibly playoffs

Freak skate cut puts Stars' Patrik Nemeth out for regular season, possibly playoffs

While the Dallas Stars were in the middle of playing “stupid, garbage hockey,” as head coach Lindy Ruff put it, they lost Patrik Nemeth to a freak injury.

Early in the first period, Nemeth tangled with R.J. Umberger. As both players fell to the ice, Umberger's skate made contact with the Stars forwards arm, cutting him in the process:

After the game, Ruff told reporters Nemeth would miss “a good period of time.” That has ended up being the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs.

From Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News:

“Patrik is done for the year, maybe it’s a possibility for the playoffs,” Ruff said. “It was a real severe laceration.” Nemeth was playing a puck along the boards, when he and R.J. Umberger got tangled up. Umberger’s skate came up and cut Nemeth’s arm.

Coincidentally, Umberger’s skate also cut Mike Modano’s wrist when Modano was playing with Detroit in 2011.

Jyrki Jokipakka, who has been summoned from Texas of the AHL, and Jamie Oleksiak are expected to fill Nemeth's role on the blueline.

- - - - - - -

Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!