Michal Kempny has had a great year, but his face has not.
During the Stanley Cup Final, Kempny slipped on a puck and crashed headfirst into the boards, opening up a gnarly cut on the bridge of his nose. Weird? Oh, it gets weirder. In November, Travis Boyd almost knocked Kempny unconscious while trying to hug his teammate during a goal celebration. Then, a month ago, a helmetless Kempny was struck in the eye by a deflected puck during warmups.
You would think all that bad face luck would be enough for three separate NHL careers, but Sunday against the Rangers, Kempny’s face got beat up again.
Early in the second period, Kempny lost an edge at center ice and spun around in a circle. As Rangers forward Lias Andersson turned up ice, it appears his arm slammed into Kempny’s nose.
Kempny returned to the Caps bench and was bleeding everywhere.
Caps head athletic trainer Jason Serbus did his best to stop the bleeding by telling Kempny to put a tampon up his left nostril.
Kempny, of course, would not miss a shift and at some point, the bleeding stopped.
He wasn’t the only player to incur face pain. Former Capital and current Rangers defenseman, Kevin Shattenkirk, missed part of the second period after taking an errant puck to the mouth.
Shatty didn’t lose any teeth, but, according to NBC analyst Pierre McGuire, he needed three stitches inside and three stitches outside his lip to stop the bleeding.
Brutal.
