PHILADELPHIA – Hockey players get used to suffering all sorts of unusual injuries, but this was a new one for Pittsburgh Penguins forward Nick Bjugstad.
In the third period of Saturday’s 5-4 Penguins loss at Tampa Bay, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev’s skate came up and slice through his jersey and into his skin under his arm.
“Trim some armpit hair,” Bjugstad said with a laugh Monday. “I’ve gotten cut with skates before, but not in that area.”
Bjugstad was able to joke about the situation because it turned out to be a largely superficial cut. He’ll be in the lineup when the Penguins face the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.
“I don’t know how many (stitches) it was,” Bjugstad said. “I wouldn’t look at the gash. I didn’t want to look at it. I just let them stitch it up.”
Bjugstad said he never feared the cut was terribly serious.
“It was just the skin that was cut. Nothing tore or anything,” he said. “I felt fine out there today. Nothing too scary. Kind of got lucky.”
During morning skate, Bjugstad was in a new line combination with left wing Phil Kessel and center Evgeni Malkin, who is set to return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.
“I’ve seen plenty of his highlights. Been on the other side of it a lot of times with him on the ice,” Bjugstad said. “You know what you’re getting with him and Phil.”
Follow the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.
Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.
