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Penguins' Dupuis: 'I played 5 more games without one-third of a lung'

Blair Gable / Reuters

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis is tough.

The 35-year-old shared a story on The Player's Tribune detailing his unfortunate battle with a blood clot that's sidelined him for the majority of the season.

Dupuis writes about the 2013 knee injury he sustained after colliding with teammate Sidney Crosby where he tore the ACL, MCL and PCL of his right knee. He believes the accident could have been the catalyst for the clot, which was discovered in a hospital visit that he describes in detail.

Dupuis writes:

The doctor explained that I had a pulmonary embolism. One of the branches of my lung was clogged. The clot probably started in my calf when my leg was immobilized on the flight back from Ottawa. My lung wasn’t getting blood supply and was slowly dying. The words just kind of whizzed by me. I went to grab my clothes when the doc explained that I had to stay in the hospital for a few days.

The story puts into perspective just how tough Dupuis actually is.

"I would not recommend this to anyone but the truth is that I played five more NHL games without one-third of a lung," said the forward.

"My training was so overboard that the blood clot didn’t affect my conditioning. I played my best game of the year in Toronto, a few days after I felt the clot."

Dupuis was told by doctors in November he would miss six months due to the clot.

He has 405 points in 853 career NHL games.

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