The chest injury to Eric Lindros sounds worse than a B-rated horror flick.

Eric Lindros by Meredith Martini

If you haven't heard, Lindros' right lung collapsed after a game against the Nashville Predators. The Philadelphia Flyers captain was taken to the emergency room where four pints of blood was drained out of the lung. Four pints! For those of us who are not in the medical field, that's half of the amount of blood in a human body.

A tube was inserted into Lindros' chest to pump the blood out. When the tube was in place, the action was wilder than the aftermath of an LCS Hockey office party.

"They stuck that tube in me and we hit a geyser," Lindros told a Nashville paper. "The doctor tried to hold it in with his thumb. (Fluid) was flying everywhere. We overflowed the reservoir."

Lindros' injury wasn't the only one the Flyers have suffered from of late. But it was the worst. Lindros will be out of action for the rest of the regular season and perhaps the playoffs if he can't recover fast enough.

The cause of the injury was either a cross-check in the third period or, as Lindros believes, a hit in the corner in the first period. Originally it was thought a broken rib might have punctured the lung, that turned out not to be the case. And it was not, as LCS Hockey's Stat Girl and resident pre-med student first thought, spontaneous pneumothorax, where alveoli rupture and air is released into the lungs, negating the negative pressure and leaving a person unable to inhale.

It turns out the lung deflated because of a buildup of bloody fluid. The fluid seems to have accumulated from a burst vessel or artery inside Lindros' chest.

The good thing is that the tube has been take out of Lindros' lung and he is hoping to return to Philadelphia soon. However it will be a long time before he can suit up again in a black and orange jersey.

Without Lindros, the Flyers still have a solid nucleus to play with - unless the rest of the team is on the mend, that is. The first game without Lindros also saw the team play without John LeClair (bad back), Eric Dejardins (knee) and Mark Recchi (dizziness and achy all over). Not a way a team wants to gear up for the playoffs.

With the injuries, the Flyers lost two games without putting up much of a fight. They lost to the Bruins, 3-0, and to the Rangers, 5-1.

But the troops are starting to get healthy again. Or at least somewhat healthy. LeClair, Desjardins and Recchi should all be back in the lineup when the Flyers take on Pittsburgh Thursday night.

Philly fans are hoping the return of those stars will stop the tailspin the team is currently in. After a terrible winless streak in March, it looked like things were going to turn around. The Flyers won four of six games (4-1-1) and started making a lot of Eastern Conference teams nervous. But then injuries decimated the team and a collective sigh of relief could be heard up and down the East Coast.

There's no doubt that the Flyers are one of the most talented team in the league. But whether it be though injuries or just flat-out bad play, Philadelphia hasn't been able to put it all together when it counts.

No team is going to feel sorry for the big, bad Flyers, however. Sure, they might send a get-well soon card to Lindros, but a note will probably be attached at the bottom:

P.S. Wait until next year.

[ issues | nhl archive | home | nhl history | about us | search | comments ]