NHL star rushed to hospital after taking ‘scary’ 87 mph puck directly to the face

A scary incident occurred during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Vegas Golden Knights entered Thursday’s game with a 1-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-seven series.

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During the first period of Game 2, Knights defensemen Brayden McNabb saw his day end prematurely and in scary fashion.

The defender was battling for position in front of the net when he stared down an 87 mph slap shot from Hurricanes winger Nikolah Ehlers.

Without flinching, McNabb took the puck directly to the head whilst jostling with forward Eric Robinson.

Luckily for McNabb, it appeared that most of the puck hit his visor, however, it was clear to see that there was a significant impact on his face and nose.

The 35-year-old dropped to the ice and clutched his face, visibly in pain before skating off to the Vegas locker room.

He would not return to the bench for the rest of the game, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported he left Lenovo Center to go to hospital for further evaluation.

“Vegas does not give injury reports, but I heard from people in the arena that he did leave the building,” Kaplan said during the broadcast.

“He was wearing flip flops off to the hospital for further evaluation.”

Knights head coach John Tortorella said he had no update about his condition after the game.

“It’s a scary play. You never want to see that,” Knights forward Brett Howden said.

“We haven’t seen him yet, but we hope he’s doing ok.”

McNabb has one goal and six assists in 16 playoff games for Vegas, skating 20:53 on average.

Hurricanes overcome Knights in overtime to level series

Without McNabb on the ice, Vegas still dominated, leading Carolina by two goals to none entering the third period.

The Hurricanes looked entirely overmatched, but they would rally with three unanswered goals, and then regroup after giving up a tying goal late to force overtime.

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Seth Jarvis was the hero on the night, netting his fourth goal of the playoffs. The forward led the team with 32 regular-season goals.

He buried his shot from the left circle, tying the series as the Hurricanes’ bench spilled onto the ice in celebration.

Game 3 of the series continues on Saturday in Las Vegas, with the Knights hoping McNabb can make a speedy return to the ice.

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