Vegas' McNabb to hospital after puck to face

Greg WyshynskiJun 4, 2026, 09:54 PM ET

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Greg Wyshynski is ESPN's senior NHL writer.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb left Thursday's Game 2 loss in the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes after taking a puck to his face in the first period.

McNabb was defending in front of Vegas goalie Carter Hart when Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers fired a shot from inside the blue line. The puck, traveling 87 mph, hit McNabb around the visor. He dropped to the ice before eventually getting to his skates, clutching his nose as he quickly left.

McNabb didn't return to the Vegas bench for the second period, and ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that he left Lenovo Center to go to a hospital for further evaluation.

Coach John Tortorella said he had no update when asked about McNabb's condition after the game.

"It's a scary play," forward Brett Howden said. "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 moved up to take McNabb's place next to Shea Theodore on the Golden Knights' top pairing.

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

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

Vegas had a 1-0 advantage in Game 2 when McNabb left and went on to lose 4-3 in overtime, leaving the series tied at 1-1.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.