Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry returns, bloody eyes and all

The Canadiens officially got Jeff Petry back in the lineup for Game 2 of their Stanley Cup semifinal against the Golden Knights on Wednesday. 

It wasn’t a sure thing that the defenseman would be slotted in. He took warmups after missing the last two games because of a hand injury, but he didn’t take line rushes and the Canadiens’ social media account tweeted the lineup at 8:48 p.m. ET without him listed. At 9:01 p.m. ET, it published a quote tweet that the team’s top blueliner was in.

Sneaky.

While you’d think Montreal getting Petry — and Jon Merrill, too, by the way — back would be the hottest topic coming from Vegas, you’d be wrong.

The broadcasts on both sides of the border showed shots of Petry during warmups and the game, and his eyes were either pretty bloodshot or had blood in the white part. 

Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas reported that Petry has bilateral subconjunctival hemorrhage. Bilateral means that it is impacting both eyes. According to the Mayo Clinic website it “occurs when a tiny blood vessel breaks just underneath the clear surface of your eye (conjunctiva). The conjunctiva can’t absorb blood very quickly, so the blood gets trapped.” It adds that it does not impact vision or cause any pain and can disappear within two weeks.

Twitter weighed in before the word came down.