Brayden McNabb Hospitalized After Taking Puck to Face During Stanley Cup Final

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb was taken to a hospital after being struck in the face by a puck during Thursday’s Game 2 loss in the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The injury occurred in the first period as McNabb was defending in front of goalie Carter Hart. Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers fired a shot from inside the blue line that traveled 87 mph and hit McNabb around the visor.

McNabb immediately dropped to the ice before rising to his skates, holding his nose as he skated off. He did not return to the bench for the second period.

According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, McNabb left Lenovo Center to go to a hospital for further evaluation following the incident.

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Vegas coach John Tortorella said Friday that there was no update on McNabb’s condition, adding only that the 35-year-old was traveling home with the team.

Vegas forward Brett Howden called the event “a scary play,” adding, “You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right. We haven’t seen him yet but hope he’s doing OK.”

Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon took McNabb’s place next to Shea Theodore on the Golden Knights’ top defensive pairing.

Captain Mark Stone said, “You lose a guy like Nabber who logs heavy minutes, such a good teammate, plays the game so hard, it’s tough. They battled as hard as they could.”

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Before leaving the game, McNabb had appeared in 16 playoff games for Vegas, recording one goal and six assists. He had been averaging 20:53 of ice time.

At the time of his departure, Vegas held a 1-0 lead. The Golden Knights later lost 4-3 in overtime, with the series now tied at 1-1 heading into Game 3.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final will take place Saturday in Las Vegas.

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