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One day after he was taken to the hospital following being hit in the neck by a puck, Dylan Holloway was back at the Blues practice facility Wednesday and said he hopes to play Thursday against Utah.

Holloway was taken from the Blues bench on a stretcher during the first period of the team’s eventual 3-2 win over the Lightning after a deflected puck hit him in the right side of his neck with about 2½ minutes left in the period. Holloway finished his shift and returned to the Blues bench before he received medical attention at a stoppage with 1:11 left in the period.

“As soon as I got hit, I knew something was a little off, but then I saw we had a two-on-one,� Holloway said. “Couldn’t pass up that opportunity. As soon as I got to the bench, I was feeling a little woozy. I don’t really remember much from there until I was on the stretcher close to the ambulance.�

Holloway was taken to the hospital, but he said he was released late Tuesday night.

Holloway said the puck hit his vagus nerve, which controls heart and blood pressure. According to the Cleveland Clinic, if your vagus nerve becomes too active, it can cause your blood pressure to drop. The drop in blood pressure can cause a person to pass out due to lack of blood flow to the brain.

Holloway described the feeling as similar to “when you stand up too fast, you get that head rush. It felt like that, but it just kind of kept coming on. Then I was out.�

“I don’t know what I thought was going on, but I didn’t even know that they stopped the game,� Holloway said. “I told Ray (Barile), our head trainer, that I just felt weird on the bench. Next thing I knew, I was awake on a stretcher close to the ambulance. I didn’t realize they stopped the game. I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal. Just thankful that all the medical staff was so hands-on and was able to get me to the hospital safely.�

Holloway said doctors told him that the bodily response was a normal one. He said they kept him at the hospital until test results came back clear around 11 p.m.

“The way it was compared to me, if you ever watch UFC, sometimes a guy will get into a chokehold and get choked out in like two seconds,� Holloway said. “You wonder why he can’t just hold his breath, but it’s not about holding your breath. It’s about getting hit in the nerve and you just go out.�

Holloway was not on the ice for Blues practice Wednesday morning, and he said doctors told him to go 24 hours without strenuous exercise. Instead, he said he pedaled a bit on the stationary bike.

Before committing to Holloway returning to the lineup against Utah, Blues coach Drew Bannister said the team would see how he’s doing Thursday.

“Most players want to do that, they want to be on the ice,� Bannister said. “They want to be fighting for their team. As coaches, as a training staff, as an organization, we’ve got to make sure that he’s 100%.�

Holloway said he did not even remember some details of the shift during which he was injured.

When he was hit with the puck, he bolted to be part of a two-on-one rush with Jordan Kyrou, then recovered the puck in the corner, fed it to the point for Ryan Suter, circled back to the slot and then to the boards to try to keep the puck in the zone. He recovered the puck in his own end, handed it to a teammate before heading to the bench for a change.

Holloway did not remember anything after passing the puck to Suter.

“They told me to go through what happened on my shift,� Holloway said. “After the two-on-one, I got the puck in the corner, and I think I passed it up to Sutes. After that, I thought I went and changed, really blurry. I didn’t remember because I stayed out a little bit longer but didn’t remember that. Don’t really remember coming to the bench. ... I blacked out for a bit.�

On Wednesday morning, Holloway still had a triangular red mark on his neck (close to his collarbone) from the puck. When asked about whether a neck guard would have helped him, Holloway was not sure what effect it would have had against a puck moving that fast.

Holloway’s parents, Bruce and Torrie, were in ºüÀêÊÓƵ for the game on Tuesday, and Holloway said his mother was keeping him updated on the score of the game. He was told when it was 3-1 and again when the Lightning cut it to 3-2.

“We’re good at locking it down, so I knew that we had it,� Holloway said.