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Alex Ovechkin narrowly avoids severe eye injury after high stick

By Ian Oland

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January 26, 2018 1:26 pm

Half-human/half-Soviet tank parts Alex Ovechkin almost suffered a scary injury Thursday night against the Florida Panthers.

But you know how this story ends. Russian machine never breaks, so he’s fine.

Video

Early in the third period, Panthers defenseman Alexander Petrovic cleared the puck out of his team’s zone. Petrovic’s followthrough, however, struck Ovechkin in the face.

The blade of Petrovic’s stick went under Ovechkin’s visor, sending the The Great 8 crumpling to the ice.

Here’s one more look.

Bleeding profusely from the face, Ovechkin would berate officials while he received treatment from head athletic trainer Jason Serbus on the bench to, I guess, change the oil. Cameras would later reveal a gash on the corner of Ovechkin’s left eye. If the stick would have hit Ovechkin several centimeters to the left, he could have potentially suffered a severe eye injury.

NBC Sports Washington analyst Alan May, who played 393 career NHL games, spoke about his own experiences about getting hit in the face during the team’s postgame show.

“I think every guy that has played the game for a long time has had that,” May said. “I’ve had multiple times where I’ve been hit with a puck, hit with a stick like that. You just count your blessings it wasn’t worse every time. As much as you don’t want stitches, as long as you can see, you’re happy.

“There’s a little bit of a shock,” May continued. “You drop to the ice pretty fast. You get down there, you take inventory of everything. As long as the pain is not too bad, you know everything is all right.”

Ovechkin and his wonky eye will remain in Florida for the weekend as he participates in his ninth career All-Star Game.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Panthers

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