BUFFALO — As the months passed and he remained sidelined by a blood clot, Sabres center Jiri Kulich said he kept asking himself if he would be able to play hockey again.
“It was kind of a roller coaster,” he said Tuesday during his end-of-season media availability in KeyBank Center.
Then two months ago, Kulich, 22, said he underwent a procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to have the entire clot removed.
“Now, I’m just excited, working hard again to be on the ice, too,” the Czech said. “Yeah, I’ll be able to play hockey again.”
Kulich, who was expected to be a significant contributor following a 15-goal rookie season, last played Nov. 1 and missed the final 83 games, counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When he left the lineup, he figured he might miss a month or two.
“I felt like I’m going to be able to play hockey this season,” said Kulich, who scored three goals and five points in 12 games this season.
As the Sabres took off in December and morphed into one of the NHL’s elite teams, Kulich regularly skated by himself, doing light on-ice work.
“I was going to be ready for playing hockey, but unfortunately, it was still there,” he said of the clot.
Finally, Kulich learned he needed to have the clot removed.
“I needed a procedure to finally be normal, I would say,” he said.
Following the procedure – “They treated me really, really nice, and I don’t really know how to thank them,” he said – Kulich couldn’t skate for a month. Now, he’s in fourth week back on the ice.
“I think it’s going well,” he said. “I was kind of heavy, too, I gained some weight. It’s nice to lose some and be back on the ice. I would say I can do pretty much everything right now.”
As he watched the Sabres enjoy one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history, Kulich said his teammates treated him “like family.”
Sometimes, of course, players recovering from an injury or illness don’t see the team much and don’t feel a part of things.
“Even when I felt like I’m not part of this team because I’m not playing, they just treated me that I’m part of this team, and that helped me a lot this year,” Kulich said. “I was just trying to spend, as much as I can, time with the boys.
“It was just awesome to watch them having so much fun, just jump on the ice and compete how they competed. How they were playing, it was great to watch.”
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With Monday’s Game 7 tied halfway through the third period, Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram landed a shot from the point on Jakub Dobes that winger Jordan Greenway quickly poked through the goalie’s pads.
As the puck moved toward the goal line, referee Wes McCauley blew his whistle just before Sabres winger Beck Malenstyn knocked it into the net, raised his arms in celebration and the crowd erupted.
The goal did not count, and the Sabres later lost 3-2 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens, ending their season in the second round of the playoffs.
“Just thought I’d try to leak off the backside and hopefully see a puck squirt loose, and that’s exactly what happened,” Malenstyn said. “And, yeah, just as it was going in, you heard whistles blowing and I turned around, you’re kind of in that shocked state of excitement and confusion, and refs are calling it off, you think it’s in.”
Malenstyn said he experienced “a whirlwind of emotion there.”
“It was a chaotic sequence in a very meaningful game,” he said.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said following the game he did not receive an explanation for the quick whistle.
“I think coming from being at a very similar angle (as the official), it seemed like the puck was pretty clearly there, and I don’t know when the whistles went, what they were looking at,” Malenstyn said. “I know there’s obviously a bunch of different things about when they’re starting to initiate blowing. There’s so many different rules there.”
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Sabres rookie center Konsta Helenius, who made significant contributions after being inserted in Game 4 against the Canadiens, has been named to Team Finland’s entry for the World Championship in Switzerland.
Helenius said he leaves today and will play Friday.
“I get the chance to keep playing,” he said. “Of course, I want to win here … but now I get the chance to play for something there. That’s huge for me.”
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Ruff, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and more players are scheduled to address the media today.