Players being cut by skates in the NHL luckily are a rare occurrence, but Wednesday's incident when Edmonton Oiler's forward Taylor Hall's skate gashed Colorado Avalanche defender Ryan O'Byrne showed just how much damage can be done.
The play happened early in the first period with the puck behind the Colorado net. Hall was between Matt Duchene and O'Byrne and in attempting to jump over there sticks and did not make it. Hall would lose his balance and during his fall to the ice his feet came up with his right skate cutting O'Byrne in the face. Somehow O'Byrne managed to finish his shift and then skate off under his own power and he was escorted to the locker room for treatment, but then taken to a nearby hospital. No official word on the number of stitches it took to close the lacerations to his face.
