Actually he doesn't have to look very far, as Columbus Blue Jackets' defenseman Jack Johnson appears to be his otherworldly nemesis - a Johnson one-timer breaking Salvador's foot in late October that sidelined him for two months and now a rising sniper job that caught him flush on the collarbone that has had him watching from the press box for the last two games.
“It was just a freak situation. The puck just rolled on him at the last second. What do you do?” Salvador asked, shaking his head sadly. “He’s definitely got my number that guy. He’s the guy that broke my foot. I have to buy him a couple of beers or something over the summer. Change that karma we’ve got going on."
In all seriousness, the veteran blue liner has been around long enough to know how fortunate he actually is, as an inch or two higher or lower could have made the injury much, much worse.
"I guess, all in all, nothing broke and it didn’t hit my face. It’s painful but I got pretty lucky. If it hit me in the heart, I might not be here.” the 38-year-old laughed. “It was up on the collarbone. I would have liked it lower, that’s for sure. We had X-rays, so nothing is broken. I take that as a positive. Just a bruise."
Playing with pain is one thing, but the area is swollen and is limiting his movement, so it would be dangerous to his health to let him go back out on the ice before he's one hundred percent.
"What we’re dealing with right now is making sure I can get full range of movement so I can protect myself on the ice instead of putting myself in a vulnerable position where I can’t raise my arm."
Salvador's next shot at making it back to the ice is on Tuesday when the Devils host the Detroit Red Wings in the first leg of a home-and-home series - the same Red Wings team that New Jersey is chasing for the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race - and as they are but three points behind, sweeping the series would go a long ways to overtaking Detroit for the playoff spot.
The second leg of the home-and-home is on Friday in Detroit.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/03/devils-bryce-salvador-considers-bruised.html#.UxUd4IUcq58
No comments:
Post a Comment