Michael Del Zotto has been a healthy scratch for the Philadelphia Flyers in their last few games, and his return to the ice at the weekend went very badly.

Facing off against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver after nine games spent on the sidelines, Del Zotto came off the bench and in the 1st quarter of his first game back he suffered a painful looking gash to the neck.

Del Zotto took a skate to the side of the face and neck from the Avalanche's former Flyer Danny Briere, when Briere attempted to step over him after Del Zotto fell in the corner. Briere missed however and his skate sunk into Del Zotto's flesh.

It wasn't quite Clint Malarchuk-esque, but it was definitely a scary moment for the 24-year old who rushed off the ice and immediately went down the tunnel with blood pouring from his neck.

Luckily for him, Del Zotto wasn’t seriously injured with his gash to the neck missing key arteries in his neck.

Speaking to CSN Philly after the game, Del Zotto didn't actually even seem that phased.

“I’ve taken a few skates before so I know the feeling,” Del Zotto said. “I felt it, saw the blood and skated off.

“I put my glove there and saw the blood. I had one once on my side for 50 stitches. It sounds weird to say, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary I guess for me. I’m pretty fortunate it wasn’t worse than it was. It’s frustrating that happening after being out nine games and have that happen on the first shift.”

The damage required 20 stitches, with the former 1st round draft pick sharing a rather grim photo of the before and after on Instagram. Look away if you're squeamish.