Slovakian forward Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers took a nasty cut on the Sunday’s game against Buffalo, when one of his teammates, Olli Jokinen, accidentally sliced his neck with a skate. Zednik was hurt midway through the third period of the game, lost to the Buffalo host 5-3, and the game was delayed for 15 minutes.

The Florida Panthers forward was rushed to the Buffalo General Hospital and had to immediately undergo surgery to close the laceration. The team’s spokesman, Brian Goldman, said the operation ended successfully and that Zednik was resting comfortably in the hospital.

It was a shocking incident for everybody, as Zednik, who was coming from behind, was struck by his teammate, Olli Jokinen, when he lifted his right leg into the air in an attempt to reach for the puck. The skate’s blade cut Zednik’s neck, leaving a trail of blood.

The attendants rushed him to the locker room, before the medical team’s intervention. “I saw the replay, that it was my skate that hit him in the throat. I think we all were in shock. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Olli Jokinen told reporters after the incident.

Several minutes have passed before the crowd was announced that his condition had been stabilized: “It is something really unfortunate,” Panthers’ head coach Jacques Martin said. “It is scary, something you don’t wish to see. I just hope he comes out of it fine.”

Before the game was resumed, the coaches of both teams discussed the possibility to end the game or continue it. But following the announcement that Zednik’s condition was stable, they decided it was OK to continue the game, which finally ended 5-3 for the Buffalo.