Backes feels grateful
Quick attention repaired cut
ST. LOUIS — Brandon Carlo was sitting in the medical room at Tampa’s Amalie Arena about to have a cut over his left eye stitched up. It was a fairly routine hockey injury.
But what came bursting through the door last Saturday was anything but routine. It was a frantic David Backes, and he was clutching a deep cut on his right leg above the knee that was gushing blood. Carlo was only too happy to take a number and wait his turn.
“I just got out of the way and let the doctors work on him. It was pretty gross to see. I don’t know how he didn’t pass out. It’s good it’s not too deep to where it would really injure him,” Carlo said. “There was so much blood you couldn’t see the cut, and then after they cleaned it up, well, I know I couldn’t be a doctor after seeing that.”
Backes, who remains out of the lineup and still is limping, was seen moving some of the staff’s equipment into Scottrade Center when the Bruins bus arrived here yesterday. The former Blues captain had made plans for family and friends here and in his native Minnesota, where the B’s play on Sunday, so he talked his way onto the trip, though it doesn’t appear he’ll be ready to play in any of the four games.
Backes spoke about suffering the scary injury.
“It was one of those things where I’ve seen teammates get cut, you’ve seen things on TV, and you know the history,” he said. “Going to the net, I felt the impact with my leg and wasn’t thinking much of it. I looked down and saw (Yanni Gourde’s) skate blade there. Then anything I touched there turned red and I thought, ‘Ah, there’s a little bit of blood coming out of there. I better get my butt off the ice.’ There was a little bit of panic with how much blood was coming out, what I was seeing where I was touching.”
Fortunately, the Lightning’s team doctor was in the room about to stitch up Carlo, so there was no time wasted in getting to Backes.
“(The doctor) already had his gloves on, and he was able to stick his hands right in there, and he was able to clot whatever was spitting, and he was able to do that, get me sutured up, and I was no worse for wear other than letting this heal up so it doesn’t get infected so I can get back on ice,” Backes said.
As far when he can get back, the cut has a time frame of its own.
“It’s just (wait) for this wound to heal so it doesn’t get an infection and persist and creates a bigger injury,” Backes said. “It’s a little sore. It feels like a charley horse, but whenever the docs say it’s OK as far as this being closed up enough, it should be fine. I don’t know if that’s five days, seven days, 10 days, probably somewhere in that realm I’ll be back functioning.”
Backes knows the cut could have been much worse.
“I’m not an anatomy major by any means, and I don’t know what’s all running through there. I just knew there was a decent amount of blood and that I needed to get to the guys that are trained in that situation,” he said. “It probably didn’t help that I was at the end of a 30-40 second shift at the time. My heart was racing and probably pumping stuff through there pretty good.”
He was thankful for all the medical personnel that are at NHL games and was thankful that Carlo skedaddled so he could get stitched up.
“That’s a hockey player move if I ever heard one,” Backes said with a laugh.
While he has found his niche with the Bruins in his second season, it has been full of difficulties. Backes missed a chunk of time early in the season when he underwent colon surgery because of a bout with diverticulitis. He just recently came back from a three-game suspension for a late hit on Detroit’s Frans Nielsen, and now this injury.
“It’s been trying, I’d say,” Backes said. “But in the scheme of things, I think timing-wise, I’ll be back in plenty of time for the playoffs and getting my stride. And hopefully, we’ll have a lot of healthy bodies back for a few games to tune up for that second season that we’re really eyeing.”