Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk suffered a throat injury during the St Louis Blues vs Buffalo Sabres game on March 22, 1989. St Louis forward Steve Tuttle collided with Buffalo defenceman Uwe Krupp in front of the goal. As they were sliding into the net, the skate of Steve Tuttle sliced open Malarchuk's throat. His internal carotid artery was cut, and blood was gashing out.
With a pool of blood in front of him, he tried to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on his throat. His team's athletic trainer, Jim Pizzutelli, immediately came to his assistance. He was helped off the ice. In the dressing room and in the ambulance, doctors began working on him and used over 300 stitches to close the wound. He stayed overnight in the hosptital. He was very lucky. According to the doctors, if the skate hit 1/8 inch higher on Malarchuk's jugular, he would have been dead in two minutes.
Surprisingly, Malarchuk returned to practice four days later, and played against the Quebec Nordiques a week later.
