Michael Raffl says Saturday’s incident against the New York Rangers wasn’t the first time he got hit hard in the jaw and passed out.
When he was a teenager playing for his native Villach in Austria, the same thing happened.
“I broke my jaw when I was 18 and the exact, same thing happened,” Raffl recalled. “It was during a hockey game.”
The good news, Raffl says, is that he passed the Flyers’ concussion protocol and is ready to go Tuesday as they host Buffalo. This is the first of three games this week — home-and-home with the Sabres — that also includes the New Jersey Devils.
Raffl went through a complete practice on Monday and will return to left wing on Claude Giroux’s line. He estimated he blacked out for a short time — seconds, not minutes — on the bench.
“I got elbowed in the corner there, felt a little dizzy and was trying to make my way back to the bench to take a seat and the next thing, I woke up and everybody is freaking out,” Raffl recalled.
He remembers taking his seat next to Giroux, who was trying to get him to move over and didn’t realize something was wrong with his teammate.
“I saw down, sitting next to G and woke up and he was holding me,” Raffl said. “I asked him what happened, everybody’s freaking out. A shot on my chin and a knockout. I was fine 10 minutes after and I feel fine today.”
Teammates were worried. Raffl was escorted down the hallway tunnel to the Flyers' dressing room by trainer Jim McCrossin when someone offered him a wheelchair.
“The guys are coming with the wheelchair and I looked at it and said, ‘I’m not gonna sit in this wheelchair,’” Raffl said.
McCrossin asked if Raffl was good to walk.
“I said yeah, and I took two steps, and it kinda came back, dizzy again and said, ‘OK, I’ll take it,'" Raffl laughed.
When the second period ended, the Flyers returned to their dressing room. Raffl emerged from the medical room to announce he was fine.
“The first guy I saw was Simmer (Wayne Simmonds) and he gave me a big hug, like all scared and stuff,” Raffl said.
“Like, what’s wrong buddy? ‘Oh man, you can’t do that to us.’ So I walked in there and told everyone I was fine.”
Teammates and fans at the Wells Fargo Center watching the game were far more worried than Raffl was about himself.
Raffl said he texted his father in Europe, who watches the games to tell him he was OK.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux admitted he didn’t expect to see Raffl back at practice on Monday.
“A little bit [surprised] for what happened,” Giroux said, “He looks good though. He looked pretty good on the ice to me.”