Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Mouth injury left Backes feeling like his ‘face was going to fall off’

St Louis Blues v Colorado Avalanche

DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 13: David Backes #42 of the St. Louis Blues awaits a face off against Matt Duchene #9 of the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on December 13, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. The Blues defeated the Avalanche 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Getty Images

It’s been a rough start to the 2014-15 season for St. Louis Blues captain David Backes, with Monday’s moment being the roughest, as he took an errant slap shot to the face:

Screening a goalie is a great way to suffer facial injuries that will leave others squeamish; this old post on Keith Tkachuk’s hideous issues is a great throwback to that.

Backes described his considerable agony to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“I felt like my face was going to fall off, so we got out of there and got some painkillers on board to try to alleviate that,” Backes said. “It was a tough night to deal with the pain and have ice on there for most of the night, just trying to get some remnants of a night’s sleep. … It was some of the worst misery I’ve been in.”

Here’s the part that might leaving you holding your mouth (or making a “Six Million Dollar Man” reference?):

“There’s a few (teeth) that were halfway gone,” Backes said. “They didn’t save them, but they rebuilt them and they look like normal teeth … They did a great job. It’s a temporary fix but it lets me eat well.”

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins