Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb saw his Game 2 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final end prematurely and in scary fashion on Thursday night.
During the first period of his club’s matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, the rugged defender was battling for position in front of the net when he stared down an 87 mph slap shot from Hurricanes winger Nikolaj Ehlers. McNabb almost unflinchingly took the puck directly to the head as he jostled with forward Eric Robinson.
Brayden McNabb takes Nikolaj Ehlers slap shot to the face
The 35-year-old blueliner immediately dropped to the ice and clutched at his face as he quickly skated off to Vegas’ locker room. 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.
“Vegas does not give injury reports, but I heard from people in the arena that he did leave the building, he was wearing flip flops off to the hospital for further evaluation,” Kaplan said during the telecast.
McNabb had played just 5:39 of total ice time before being forced out of the game. He came into Thursday night’s matchup averaging 20:53 of ice time per game during the playoffs, which ranked fourth among Golden Knights defensemen. In his absence, Jeremy Lauzon moved up onto Vegas’ top pairing next to Shea Theodore.
“It’s a scary play,” Vegas forward Brett Howden told the AP’s Stephen Whyno. “You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right. We haven’t seen him yet, but hope he’s doing okay.”
“Any time you see that happen to a teammate, especially to a guy like Nabber who is a huge part of this team, a leader, it’s tough,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “It’s hard to see that happen to any guy on the ice. We’re just hoping for the best for him.”
Where Vegas perhaps missed McNabb the most was shorthanded, as no Golden Knights skater has played more on the penalty kill than him (49:34) in the postseason. After McNabb departed the contest, the Hurricanes would get one power-play goal to go up 3-2 late in the third period and another to win the game in overtime.
Seth Jarvis scored the latter goal, rocketing a one-timer from the left faceoff circle past Vegas goaltender Carter Hart.
Seth Jarvis scores game-winning overtime goal for Hurricanes in Game 2
“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.”
In 17 total playoff games this spring, McNabb has recorded seven points (1g, 6a). He is one of four original Golden Knights from the team’s inaugural 2017-18 season still on the club’s roster.
