Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall was cut above the eye by a teammate's skate during warm-ups on Tuesday night as the team prepared to face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Hall required 30 stitches to close the cut, and missed the Oilers' 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets.
Hall stepped on a puck during warm-ups and got tangled up with Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid as both players fell to the ice. Blueliner Corey Potter came around the boards and tried to jump over Hall, but ended up stepping on his face.
"This is one of those fluky things. It just happens," Oilers head coach Tom Renney told the Associated Press. "Not much we can do about it."
Hall, a former two-time Memorial Cup champion and MVP has 15 goals and 16 assists with a minus-3 rating through 36 games this season.
The Oilers are already without the services of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (shoulder), Jordan Eberle (knee), Ryan Whitney (ankle), Cam Barker (ankle), Taylor Fedun (leg), Alex Plante (concussion), Eric Belanger (leg) and Tom Gilbert (leg).
Renney spoke about the rash of injuries that his team is trying to work through.
"You learn an awful lot about yourself and team under those type of circumstances. 'Uncle' on the learning part of it, maybe, but these are the cards we were dealt and we have to sit at the table and play," Renney told the Associated Press.
