Blake Lizotte injured in freak accident without taking a shift.

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have been dealt a significant blow during a preseason game on Sunday night, and it may have happened without the injured player even taking a single shift.

After skating on the ice with his team in warmups and appearing on the bench to start the first period, fans were left confused when Penguins forward Blake Lizotte never took a single shift. In fact, Lizotte disappeared from the bench all together and would not return for the second or third period, only adding to the confusion.

Making things even more bizarre was the eventual update from the Penguins indicating that Lizotte had suffered an upper body injury, adding that he would not return to the game. How exactly did Lizotte suffer an injury when he never set foot on the ice?

It would be Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan that would eventually clear up the mystery and unfortunately it was not good news for the Penguins. According to Sullivan, Lizotte was injured during the very first shift of the game when an errant puck came up over the boards and struck him directly in the face. It is unclear exactly where Lizotte was struck, but whatever happened it was serious enough to knock him out for the remainder of the game.

"He got hit in the face with the puck. Scary thing. He never saw it coming," said Sullivan. "That was a tough one. I don’t think the guys were used to the bench being that far down into the zone. That’s a little bit different in this rink."

Although the Penguins played the Ottawa Senators last night it was not in their usual home at the Canadian Tire Center. Instead, it was a special event held at the Sudbury Community Arena, which is likely why the players weren't used to the layout of the benches. The fact that, according to Sullivan, Lizotte was caught completely unawares likely only made things that much worse.

There has been no further update on Lizotte at this time, but it's hard not to feel for the guy if he was indeed seriously injured in such a freak accident.