Toronto (eCanadaNow) - Slovak striker Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers was seriously wounded in the throat by a skate blade of his teammate Olli Jokinen, in the 3rd period of an NHL game on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.

Zednik was behind the play and skating into the corner at the Sabres' end of the ice, when teammate Olli Jokinen was upended by Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur. Jokinen fell headfirst to the ice, and his right leg flew up and struck Zednik directly on the side of the neck.

Zednik, who was bleeding heavily, was quickly taken to his bench for help.

Once the severity of the wound was realized, Zednik, 32, was transported to a hospital in Buffalo.

The match resumed after a 15 minutes, CBC reported.

The NHL said in press release that the decision to not end the match was made when it was announced that Zednik was in stable condition.

"From that point on it wasn't about the game anymore," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "I just told my players that our thoughts should be with the player that just went by the bench."

"It is something really unfortunate," said Panthers head coach Jacques Martin. "It is scary, something you don't wish to see. I just hope he comes out of it fine."