Wow. 

The 41-year-old veteran, perhaps in his last best chance to win another Stanley Cup, underwent surgery at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Mass. General to remove a kidney stone and was released at 8:30 that night. He was back in the hospital to complete the procedure yesterday.

“They said if I got (the stone) out (I could play),” said Recchi more than an hour after Scott Walker’s overtime goal ended the Bruins [team stats] season, 3-2, and sent the Hurricanes into the Eastern Conference finals. “I had to get a stent out (yesterday) morning. They didn’t know going in that they would have to put a stent in. They were hoping not to, but they had to. The stone wouldn’t pass . . . it wasn’t going to go into my bladder, so they had to have the surgery to get it. I don’t wish it on anybody.”

Recchi first felt the shooting pain in his side last Saturday after the Bruins lost Game 4 on Friday to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. He missed practice Saturday, but played in both Game 5 and Game 6, scoring goals in each.

“Sunday and (Tuesday), I never had pain like that. (Last night) I was just trying to get the energy to play, but i felt pretty good,” said Recchi. “It was progressively getting worse and then it got stuck. That was probably the worst pain.”

Asked how he played through the pain on Games 5 and 6, Recchi smiled and said, “Good medicine.”

Still, he tried to downplay it, and said: “There are plenty of guys who play through things.”

(hat-tip to Empty Netters)