From the WWL’s Scott Burnside:
The New York Rangers said forward Sean Avery suffered a lacerated spleen in Tuesday night’s Stanley Cup playoff game and will be lost for the remainder of the playoffs.
The team also denied a published report in the New York Daily News — which first reported Avery’s hospitalization — that the forward had been taken to a Manhattan hospital while unconscious and in cardiac arrest.
The Rangers said Avery was admitted to St. Vincent’s Medical Center following a CT scan and is expected to make a full recovery. Avery walked into the medical facility with team doctor Andrew Feldman, and the two took a car to the hospital, not an emergency vehicle, the team said.
Michael Fagan, spokesman for St. Vincent’s Medical Center, said Avery is in “stable” condition.Tuesday night, the Rangers lost 5-3 in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. The Penguins took a 3-0 series lead with the win.
Avery suffered the injury as the result of a hit during the game, spokesman John Rosasco told reporters during the team’s morning workout.
“He walked into the hospital,” Rosasco said. “He was never in a life-threatening situation.”
Avery’s mother Marlene told the Toronto Sun that the injury occured in the first period as the result of a collision with a Penguins defenseman and that he played the remainder of the game in a great deal of pain. She said her son’s spleen had not ruptured, but that he had suffered internal bleeding.
Avery played 14 minutes and 34 seconds of Game 3, taking 19 shifts on the ice. He finished the game before going to hospital, according to the team. He has seven points in eight playoff games this spring.
There’s no longer any mention of a heart attack (nor a correction) in the Daily News. Does this mean we can’t trust them on Mindy McCready either?