Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) starts to take off his helmet following the Hurricane' loss to the New York Islanders in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) starts to take off his helmet following the Hurricane' loss to the New York Islanders in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes and Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers are giving new meaning to the word “faceoff.â€
Both were hit in the face by a puck on Tuesday night, and each played an indirect role in goals.
Aho was bloodied near the mouth by a shot from near the blue line by Pierre Engvall of the visiting Islanders. As the puck was falling to the ice, New York's Brock Nelson swatted it out of the air and past Carolina goalie Antti Raanta for the first goal in over the Hurricanes in Game 5 of the teams' first-round playoff series.
“Unfortunate it hits a guy in the face," Nelson said. "For me it was nice, it was right there and I was able to get a stick on it in the air and go in.â€
Aho eventually skated back to the bench while doubled over, then straight to the locker room. He returned midway through the period after getting stitches and eventually scored for Carolina.
“I just kind of didn’t know what hit me,†Aho said. “It came pretty quickly there. Obviously the guy was probably not aiming for my face either. Yeah, it’s hockey, it happens.â€
Hyman picked up a point on his play in Game 5 of host Edmonton's series against Los Angeles when a fluttering slap shot by teammate Evan Bouchard — also near his mouth — and ricocheted past Kings goalie Pheonix Copley.
Hyman shook off the discomfort and continued to play in
“Luckily Bouch didn’t get all of it, but if he’d got all of it, it probably wouldn’t have gone where it went, so take that trade-off any day for a goal,†Hyman said. “I’ve got a bunch off of different parts of my body, but that’s the first one off my face. That’s the way you score in playoffs. You get a pretty goal here and there, but a lot of it is going to those tough areas and finding loose change.â€
The two incidents come only a few days after a Winnipeg player needed during a playoff game against Vegas.
