At the end of a playoff series you hear all sorts of mindboggling maladies that players endured to compete. And then there’s the Mark Recchi story.

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 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.”

Savard plays

After a knee-on-knee hit with Carolina’s Chad LaRose in Game 6, Marc Savard said he sustained a medial collateral sprain.

Savard managed to skate through 27 minutes, 38 seconds of ice time last night.

“As the game went on, I felt more comfortable,” he said. “It was in my head early, but I tried my best.

“The trainers did a fabulous job in the last 36 hours. They were really on top of it all the time and rehabbed it the best we could. After a while I felt fine. We just came up short,” added Savard, who had an assist on Milan Lucic’s equalizer in the third period.

Arniel signs

The Bruins signed prospect Jamie Arniel, their fourth-round draft pick (97th overall) last June, to an entry-level contract. Playing for the Sarnia Sting in 2008-09, the 19-year-old center from Kingston, Ontario, notched 32-36-68 totals. His uncle, Scott Arniel, played 730 games in the NHL, including 29 for the Bruins in 1991-92.

Every Bitz counts

Byron Bitz has made a rather seamless transition from the press box to the fourth line to the highly skilled second line with David Krejci and Michael Ryder during this series. He was nearly one of the heroes last night, scoring the first goal of the game.

“It’s been a great ride,” said Bitz. “I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to play at this level and I know I can play at this level. And just for myself, knowing that is big.” . . .

P.J. Axelsson said he at first feared that he’d suffered a more damaging injury in the second period of Game 6 when Eric Staal fell on his leg. He got up to his feet and labored noticeably, but he bounced back like he’s usually done in his 11-year career with the Bruins.

“It took some time, but it feels a lot better now,” said Axelsson.