Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne believes his hip infection is very serious, according to Finnish magazine Urheilulehti.

In a translated interview with the Finnish publication Rinne explained the soreness that came over him following Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

“It started aching during the evening. I had a fever and my other leg began to swell up. The next day I was sent to the operating surgeons. From there they took samples, and they were sent to a laboratory. They found a bacterial infection.

“I will be taking antibiotics for a while now. I have a cannulla in my arm for four weeks.

“I understand that injuries happen, but during my career this has been the toughest bite to chew during my career mentally. As always after injuries, it takes hard work to get back to game shape and everything went well – and suddenly something like this happens. I’m obviously not the only player who has had setbacks with injuries, but I am really disappointed and it’s a tough one to swallow.

“It is very important to kill the bacteria from the hip, because this kind of infection is very dangerous – it can derogate the joint inside the hip.

“The doctor said after the arthroscopic surgery, that everything looked good. The things that were repaired in surgery in May – everything looked the way it should.

“I don’t know about the timetable. First and foremost, we have to focus on getting the infection eliminated. I don’t want to guess, but I hope things get better as soon as possible.”

Predators general manager David Poile said Rinne felt something was wrong Tuesday night after the Predators returned from Minnesota.

“When he got back to Nashville after the plane ride home, he developed some soreness and stiffness in his hip and got a little bit of a fever,” Poile said. “A series of tests determined that he had a spontaneous bacterial infection.”

Rinne will miss at least four weeks.