Heward Treated for Nasty Gash

Defenseman Doing Better Than Expected After Face Is Cut

After getting cut by the skate of Dallas's Mike Modano, the Caps' Jamie Heward was stitched up. (By Bruce Bennett -- Getty Images)

For about three minutes Thursday night, Jamie Heward feared the worst.

"It's almost like it happened in slow motion," the Washington Capitals defenseman said yesterday. "But I couldn't get out of the way because it was happening in real time. It just came across my face."

The "it" Heward was referring to was Mike Modano's skate blade, which had inadvertently come up during a tussle for the puck along the boards and opened a gash that extended from the bridge of Heward's nose to his left cheek, just below his eye.

"I couldn't see out of my eye at all because of blood and splatter had gotten in there," said Heward, who was not wearing a visor. "I could see with my right eye that skin was hanging. That scared me the most because I thought I had been hit in my other eye."

Heward immediately dropped to his knees and then raced for the bench. By the time head trainer Greg Smith met him on the ice, Heward's face was a bloody mess.

"I almost fainted," goaltender Olie Kolzig said after practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. "It was disgusting. I looked at him, at his face, it was unnerving."

Heward spent the next three hours getting stitched up by Ed Magur, the Capitals' associate team physician. The medical staff decided against transporting Heward to a hospital for fear of infection, Smith said.

Yesterday, Heward was treated by a plastic surgeon for the second time in a year, and the prognosis was better than expected. He had not suffered any nerve damage, and the doctor did not believe any muscle tissue was cut either, Heward said.

The Capitals, who host the Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo Sabres tonight, have upgraded Heward's status from out indefinitely to week-to-week.

"Our medical team did a fabulous job last night," General Manager George McPhee said. "Jamie will get some more work done here over the next few days and he should be fine. We'll give him some time to heal, but he won't be out long."

Heward joked: "My modeling career is in jeopardy."

Last December, Heward suffered a deep cut above the same eye when he was accidentally hit by a teammate's shot during practice. That wound required 17 stitches as well as some attention from a plastic surgeon.