Bernal took Turgeon to the hospital to see what was going on and they discovered something much more serious than a bruise - thoracic outlet syndrome.
"I actually went to the hospital and I figured I was going back for my pre-game nap and they say you need surgery right away," Turgeon told reporters in Grand Rapids Tuesday while his team practiced. "So I'm getting hooked up to machines and then I had surgery probably an hour after that and was there."
The surgery in Texas was to remove the blood clot.
"I definitely called my mom (Elisabeth) right away," Turgeon said. "It's a scary thing, you know, especially coming out of nowhere and just realizing blood clots can be very serious and playoffs too and all that. Definitely not ideal but it happened."
Elisabeth Turgeon took the first flight she could get to meet her son in Texas.
"Mom reacted I guess how a mom does," Turgeon said. "She flew down there right away to Texas and met me there so when I woke up from surgery, she was actually there. She went to Tampa with me, too, so she was with me the whole time."
Once the doctors in Texas cleared Turgeon to travel, he flew to Tampa to see Dr. Karl Illig, who had treated Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos for the same condition two years ago.
"I actually had no idea (Stamkos had it)," Turgeon said. "I didn't even know what this was until it happened. Eventually I found out that Stamkos had this procedure done in Tampa. That's when I decided to fly over there."
In Tampa just over a week ago, Dr. Illig did a successful rib resection to make room for the blood to flow.
It's a highly uncommon injury for hockey players.
"Something very minimal, like five hockey players, very rare procedure," Turgeon said. "It happens mostly with a lot of baseball players, pitchers who mostly have their arm over their head or something like that."
Turgeon is disappointed that he won't be able to help his Griffins teammate defend their Calder Cup title, but he understands that his health is the most important thing.
"Obviously you work all summer, you work all year to play in the playoffs. You want to be a part of it," Turgeon said. "You're close family, especially with what happened last year but when it comes down to this, I guess it was a life-threatening thing so I'm thankful that everything went well."
Turgeon, who will be on blood thinners for a few months, is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for training camp.
His teammates will be waiting with open arms when he returns next season.
"We're a really close family in here," Turgeon said. "As soon as they heard what happened, they had to leave on the road right away to go to San Antonio and keep going. Just a lot of love in the room and I'm just happy to be a part of this family.
"The past few weeks or so has obviously been crazy, from Texas to Tampa. But feeling a lot better now."
