October 24, 2015
There was a very scary situation early in the second period of the Flyers’ game against the New York Rangers on Saturday night. Left wing Michael Raffl collapsed on the Flyers' bench and had to be helped into the locker room.
"It was a very scary feeling," defenseman Mark Streit said. "All of the guys started to yell and call for the trainers, and it was a moment there were guys were worried."
At the end of his last shift before returning to the bench, Raffl took an inadvertent elbow to the head from Rangers center Jarret Stoll (GIF via @SonsofPenn):
Here's the end of Raffl's last shift. pic.twitter.com/cPbJfdzBl1
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) October 25, 2015
Raffl made it back to the bench, and the Flyers were very concerned shortly thereafter. Someone on the bench threw a glove on the ice and play was halted right away. Raffl had some noticeable trouble making it to the locker room, as well (GIFs via @myregularface and @BradyTrett):
Michael Raffl struggling to get off the ice. Praying everything is okay. pic.twitter.com/UJO8elHgWU
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) October 25, 2015
Claude Giroux, Raffl's linemate, was sitting next to the 26-year-old Austrian winger on the bench. Initially, he thought Raffl was playing a trick on him.
"Michael is a funny guy and sometimes he does something funny," Giroux said. "I thought he was just joking around and I told him to move. And then I realized that he wasn't joking around, and I started freaking out and started yelling at Jimmy [McCrossin, head athletic trainer]. It wasn't a fun moment. The whole team was pretty worried, but he looks good right now."
According to everyone in the Flyers locker room to after the 3-2 victory over New York, Raffl is doing well.
“We came in during the second intermission so we knew he was doing good, which is great to see,” Steve Mason said. “But I don’t even know what happened with him.”
Play was stopped for a lengthy period of time. Ron Hextall wouldn't answer whether or not Raffl has a concussion, choosing to stick with the company line:
Michael Raffl will not return to tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury. #NYRvsPHI
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 25, 2015
“He has an upper body injury, that’s all," Hextall said. "Upper body. That means from the waist to the top of the head.”
"Michael is fine," Hextall said. "Michael stayed here. He’s fine. I just talked to him. He’s actually cracking jokes.”
Hextall also wouldn't speculate about Raffl's potential availability for practice or Tuesday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
