Montreal Canadiens defenceman Jeff Petry may have become an instant meme after playing Game 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights with terrifying red eyes, but he had yet to speak out about his crimson glare — until today.
While his wife, Julie Petry, had posted that the bloodshot eyes were due to an "upper-body injury," she didn't tell curious Habs fans much more — other than saying it wasn't allergies, wasn't because he wasn't tired and wasn't the result of "a couple nights in Vegas."
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In a press conference on July 9, Petry explained that the red eyes were a result of him breaking his finger during Game 3 against the Winnipeg Jets.
He called it a "freak accident" that occurred when he put his hand on the arena's glass barrier to brace himself after skating over holes on the ice. He said his pinky finger went into the glass and his momentum pushed the rest of his body forward, breaking his finger.
"The eyes were all because when they were setting my finger back into place to put the cast on, I basically passed out and popped all the blood vessels in my eyes," Petry said.
By Friday's press conference, Petry's eyes were clear, appearing to have healed. But the haunting memory will live on — at least until the Canadiens' official store runs out of Petry "Red Eye" T-shirts.
