The Blues' Dylan Holloway escapes serious injury after being hit in the neck by the puck

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway was back at the team's practice facility Wednesday and appeared to have escaped a serious injury a day later get hit in the neck by a puck and leaving the ice on a stretcher against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I feel good today, a lot better,” Holloway said. “As soon as I got hit I knew something was wrong, but then I saw we were two against one so I couldn't pass up this opportunity. But as soon as I got to the bench I felt a little dizzy and then from then on I couldn't really remember much until I was on the stretcher near the ambulance.”

The game was stopped with 1:11 left in the first period for a high penalty, which was later overturned when medical staff from both teams began tending to Holloway before he was taken off the ice.

“I was more in shock, like I wasn't really sure what happened, and I was a little nauseous too,” Holloway said. “They gave me some medication, and once I kind of figured out what really happened, I started to calm down and feel better.”

Holloway was released from a St. Louis-area hospital around 11 p.m. Tuesday and was ordered to avoid physical activity for 24 hours.

Blues coach Drew Bannister said there is a chance Holloway will return to the lineup in time for the team's next game against Utah on Thursday night.

“I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here. We’re less than 12 hours away from this injury so we’ll take it day by day and see how he does tomorrow, but today is a good day for us.”

Holloway's parents, Bruce and Torrie, were present at the game and accompanied him to the hospital.

“It’s definitely hard to know that they saw that,” Holloway said. “But at the end of the day, it’s much better to have them there. They live with me so I was able to talk to them last night and it’s definitely nice to have some company around.”

Holloway said he received score updates from his mother as the Blues rallied from a 1-0 deficit to beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

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