Yes, your memory is good; the Edmonton Oilers were here just a scant two weeks ago. And here they are again to do battle with the Blues in yet another game that can see the Blues retake first place in the Western Conference and tie the Rangers for first in the entire league. After losing in Edmonton in October, the Blues fought back to overcome a two-goal deficit with three third period tallies, two on the power play, to even the series in a contest featuring skirmishes between David Backes and Ryan Smythe, Jamie Langenbrunner and Ladislav Smid and T. J. Oshie and Shawn Horcoff. Yes, that was the game in which Roman Polak was ejected for slashing Taylor Hall, who needed ten stitches to repair the damage to his head.

It’s been a pretty tough month for Edmonton’s first-overall choice from the 2010 draft as he was cut above the eye for 30 more stitches before Tuesday’s game in Columbus. Hall, not wearing a helmet for warm-ups, stepped on a puck and got tangled up with teammate Smid. As both players tumbled to the ice, defenseman Corey Potter came around the boards and tried to jump over the fallen players. Unfortunately, he came down and stepped on Hall’s face, slicing it open. Ouch! Hall joins eight other Oilers in the infirmary, including rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Cam Barker. 

Of course, the Blues know all about injuries, averaging four players out or on IR per game this season. Every hockey team that has taken the ice, from amateur to professional and pee-wee to adult league, is aware of the potential for injury in perhaps the most dangerous team sport of all. And the NHL has had some of the most horrendous injuries imaginable. Perhaps the worst occurred in March 1989, when Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuk suffered one of the grisliest, visually gruesome injuries in the history of hockey. As Blues forward Rick Meagher sent the puck into the offensive zone, Blue Steve Tuttle collided with Sabres defenseman Uwe Krupp near the goal crease, and Tuttle’s skate came up and caught Malarchuk on his exposed neck, slicing the external carotid artery. With pools of blood covering virtually the entire goal crease, Malarchuk somehow left the ice under his own power with the aid of a trainer and was rushed to Buffalo General Hospital, where surgeons successfully repaired the damage. Malarchuk was released the following day. Unfortunately, two fans in attendance suffered heart attacks.

During a December 1980, game in Hartford, Whalers defenseman Mark Howe suffered one of the strangest injuries in NHL history. Late in the third period, Howe crashed feet-first into his own net and literally impaled himself on the metal pointed wedge at the bottom center of the cage that had come up off the ice. Howe had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher and was treated at a local hospital for a deep laceration to his left thigh and buttocks. The puncture narrowly missed the base of his spine, which would have crippled him for life. Thankfully, the extensive bleeding had been stopped by the training staff, and eventually Howe recovered to continue his all-star career for another fifteen years.

Old-timers will point to the injury suffered by Irvine “Ace” Bailey of the Toronto Maple Leafs as one of the most awful during the early years of the NHL. At a game in Boston in 1933, Leaf defenseman King Clancy had knocked down notorious Bruin tough guy Eddie Shore with a solid body check, and Shore, seeking revenge, hit the first Leaf he could find, which unfortunately was the meek, mild Bailey. Shore viciously hit Bailey from behind and knocked the smallish winger into the air, his head smashing into the ice, fracturing his skull. Bailey was knocked unconscious, his body twisted and twitching in a seizure-like state. Two brain operations later, Bailey finally recovered to live a normal life, yet his hockey career was over. In February 1934, the NHL held a benefit game for Bailey and his family by creating an all-star squad to play against the Maple Leafs. Ace was present at the benefit and as each player was introduced, he would hand them their jersey. When Shore, who was selected for the game, approached Bailey at center ice, the apprehensive crowd broke out with a standing applause as the two men shook hands and embraced. This, of course, was the precursor to the annual NHL All-Star game.

With Kris Russell ready to return and Alex Steen very close; and Andy McDonald and Kent Huskins just around the corner, hopefully the hockey gods will continue to smile on the Blues and stop the bleeding from so many injuries. That will surely enable the Blues to keep it going and stay ahead of the other big boys in the Western Conference.