The New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello said he felt "much better" on Monday after a fracture to his head left him unable to speak.
The Norwegian revealed he was using a speech therapist to help him recover.
"So I was in the hospital for three days. I couldn't talk for a while, I just had some contusion(s), some blood in my brain. Yeah, that affects a lot and now I go to speech therapy, getting much better. I couldn't say word(s) for four days. But now I actually say a little bit, so I feel much better and now I'm going to be getting better and better."
27-year-old Zuccarello scored 15 goals and 34 assists for New York in the regular season.
The Rangers had the league's best record this season and was 15-3 in its last 18 elimination games.
But they failed to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight time.
