Richard Zednik had no idea how many friends he had in Buffalo on that fateful night. It was just another stop, one game among 82 on the NHL schedule, an ordinary Sunday evening in HSBC Arena. Little did he know, while skating on the heels of teammate Olli Jokinen, that he would soon stare into the face of death.

Looking back, the faces told the story, how Zednik nearly succumbed after his carotid artery was severed during a game Feb. 10, 2008, against the Sabres. His was ashen and terrified as he held his glove to his neck when he arrived at the visitors' bench and collapsed. He said little, allowing his facial expression to ask the obvious question:

Am I going to die?

Sabres' fans near the right circle in the Buffalo zone wondered the same thing. They watched a routine play turn into a potential tragedy, their looks of horror, their mouths agape, as Zednik's blood splattered across the ice, a bright crimson trail that followed him all the way to the visitors' bench.

And there were the faces of the players, somber and confused, wishing their eyes had failed them, knowing they did not, wondering if they would witness a man dying before them, trying to distance themselves from the notion that it easily could have been them. Sports are sports. This was life and death.

Tonight, 13 months after the scariest night of his life, Zednik returns to the arena. He's back with the Florida Panthers and having a good season. The Panthers are in a playoff race, and the Sabres are among the teams chasing them. Such are trivial facts, nothing compared to what could have been.

"I was lucky," Zednik said Wednesday by telephone. "I couldn't believe it when I was talking to all the [medical] people about the process. Everybody was in the right place at the right second. Every second and every minute was counting. Everybody was ready to help me. I'm glad for that, that I can be here and playing in the game [today]."

In truth, the small scar on his neck marking his last game in Buffalo doesn't reveal the string of events that leaned in his favor. If any one of them had turned against him, tonight's game against the Panthers would be their first visit to Buffalo since his funeral.

"He was as sick as you can get," said Dr. Robert McCormack, the emergency room physician who treated him at Buffalo General. "He was as close to dying as you can and still survive. There was a lot for us to do. It all went great and produced this tremendous result. He not only survived it without a disability, but he's back and in full swing."

A POOL OF BLOOD

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller remembers the play in slow motion, as if it happened yesterday. Jokinen lost his balance after checking forward Clarke MacArthur near the corner. In an effort to keep his feet, Jokinen's right skate swung backward and high. Miller braced for an accident he could not prevent.

"I saw where the skate was going to hit," Miller said.

The skate clipped Zednik just under his chin, puncturing his neck and clipping his carotid artery. The puck moved toward the blue line, but Miller was focused on Zednik and the pool of blood that immediately splashed on the ice. Brian Campbell, who was near the blue line, later said it sounded like "a bucket of water being thrown on the driveway."

Zednik immediately understood the gravity of the situation, pressed his left glove against his neck and skated toward the bench with defenseman Jassen Cullimore and trainer Dave Zenobi while players and fans watched in horror. Zednik began to collapse before being ushered down the hallway toward the dressing room.

"Did you notice?" Miller said. "There were 18,000 people who went dead quiet. There was the initial gasp and then, nothing. [Jason] Pominville came over to talk to me and had to skate over the trail of blood. We were all just waiting. Was he going to be OK? What are they doing? Are we going to keep playing?

"I remember getting on one knee and saying, "I can't believe that just happened. I hope he's OK.' That's when it hit us. Obviously, it was a major artery or vein or something. We didn't know what it was. It started hit ting me at that moment: He could die."

Players and coaches almost immediately turned their attention to Dr. Les Bisson, the Sabres team physician. He wasn't in his usual seat behind their bench. They later found out that he had already raced toward the Panthers' dressing room, where he immediately began applying pressure to Zednik's neck while rushing him to the ambulance.

NO TIME TO LOSE

In the ambulance, Zednik was begging Bisson to relieve the pressure during the two-minute drive to Buffalo General. A physician's assistant on break was watching the game on television and immediately warned emergency room personnel that Zednik was likely headed their way.

It gave them a few extra moments to prepare the trauma room, grab five pints of blood and activate their surgical team. Dr. Sonya Noor, a vascular surgeon, was only a few minutes from the hospital. Meanwhile, emergency medical technicians in the ambulance removed most of his equipment, saving critical time.

"God's honest truth, if that happened in a kids' game, forget about it. It's over," Noor said. "You have four or five minutes before you bleed out, and you're done. He knew something was very, very wrong. It was incredible to have that presence in mind to skate to the bench."

People in the arena that night were understandably relieved when the public address announcer relayed that Zednik was in stable condition. The announcement effectively put people at ease, but it was premature. In truth, Zednik was still in trouble.

His artery had been hanging by a thread before he arrived at the hospital. Had it been completely severed and recoiled in his neck, he likely would have died. The trauma and blood around his neck was squeezing his airway, which forced doctors to intubate him while still trying to close off the artery. The lack of blood flow could have led to a stroke, brain damage or worse. Instead, Noor closed the wound.

Zednik getting off the ice, Zenobi helping him apply pressure to his neck, the personnel in the arena being prepared for an emergency, the police escort and short ride to the hospital, preparation in the emergency room and quick actions from doctors combined to save his life.

"He knew this was a mortal wound," McCormack said. "The fact he kept his composure and got himself off the ice was a huge, huge factor in him surviving this injury. And, really, we're talking about survival here. If things had gone wrong, he would have died. There's no gray area. We're talking minutes being the difference between life and death. For someone in emergency medicine, I don't say that lightly."

NO NECK GUARD

Zednik has 15 goals and 29 points this season and was on pace for his best season since 2003-04, when he had 26 goals and 50 points with the Canadiens. The Panthers, in seventh place after a 4-3 shootout loss to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, are looking to reach the postseason for the first time since 1999-00.

Over the past 13 months, he has tried to distance himself from the accident and concentrate on hockey. He has ignored doctors' suggestions to wear a neck guard. He was more concerned Wednesday with trying to beat the Sabres than any demons he might need to overcome when skating toward the corner or returning to the bench.

Simply, he's getting on with life after his brush with death.

"It happened," he said. "I know what happened, but it's not something I keep in my mind. I've come here so many times, and nothing ever happened to me. I'm trying to focus on the game. Maybe, when I come to the locker room or go on the ice, it's going to be different. Right now, I'm thinking we have another big game."

Zednik had plans to meet up with at least one friend. He has maintained his relationship with Dr. Noor. They became friends last year after Noor spent several days comforting Zednik's wife, Jessica. They planned to have dinner at Noor's home Wednesday night, and she plans to attend the game tonight.

So it's not just a big game, hardly one of 82. Zednik will be forced to retrace a few steps and make peace with a conflict. Buffalo is where he almost lost his life, but it's where people saved his life. He made a few friends along the way, and he's alive to enjoy them.

"They told me what could have happened," he said. "Anything could have happened. Now, I feel 100 percent like nothing happened. It's amazing."

***

The Sabres held practice Wednesday afternoon at the Amherst Pepsi Center without forwards Tim Connolly, Jochen Hecht and Maxim Afinogenov. All three were absent with the flu but were expected to be available tonight against the Panthers.