"It wasn't his fault," Savage, wearing a surgical collar to support his neck while three cracked vertebrae heal, said softly while high above the Molson Centre ice Saturday. "It was a hockey accident. I don't blame him."

"Him" is the Kings' Ian Laperriere, a participant in the horrifying incident at Staples Center.

On Nov. 20, Montreal's Savage fanned on a shot and, with his head down, collided with Laperriere, then fell to the ice in convulsions. Savage was taken to a hospital, and after the Kings lost, 5-3, Laperriere raced there to learn of his condition.