Dallas Stars forward Blake Comeau will miss multiple weeks with a lower body injury suffered in the season opener Thursday, but the team received good news on Roman Polak after the defenseman was stretchered off in the second period.
In the first period of the Stars' 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins, Comeau fell awkwardly after getting hit in the cheek by a puck. Coach Jim Montgomery said after the game that Comeau will miss extended time.
Polak was hurt when he went headfirst into the boards after trying to check Bruins forward Chris Wagner with 12:56 remaining in the second period.
Polak barely moved while face down on the ice before being rolled onto a board and lifted onto the stretcher during a delay that lasted almost 10 minutes.
Despite the scary moment, Montgomery said after the game that Polak was OK following an evaluation at a hospital and could return soon.
"I think obviously we kind of didn't want to think about it after it happened," defenseman John Klingberg said. "We got to get back playing again. It's tough to see a teammate go down like that."
The Stars lost another forward after the first period when Jason Dickinson didn't return with an upper body injury.
"It's life in the NHL," Montgomery said. "Next man up. We went through it all of last year and we're a resilient group. We're a deep organization, and we're going to be OK."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.