Rangers defenseman appears to intentionally injure goalie.

An incident during an American Hockey League game between the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rochester Americans on Friday night has kicked up quite the controversy, and a National Hockey League veteran is at the very center of it all.

On Friday night, New York Rangers defenseman Ben Harpur appeared to intentionally injure Rochester Americans goaltender Felix Sandstrom during a game that was well out of reach at that point. Harpur and the Wolf Pack had been thoroughly dominated by the Americans throughout the contest, down by a score of 5-1, and with just under 4 minutes left in the second period he appeared to take a deliberate run at Sandstrom who was defenseless in his net.

Harpur would deliver a hit to Sandstrom's head, which in turn would knock Sandstrom's head back into the crossbar, leaving the Americans' goaltender down on the ice for several long moments.

Here is a look at how in happened in real time:

And now in slow motion from a different angle:

From the video replay it certainly looks as though Harpur is looking at Sandstrom the entire time as he makes his approach, leading most to believe that the blow to the head of Sandstrom was delivered deliberately and with malice.

Harpur has not played in an NHL game since the 2022-23 NHL season but does remain under contract with the Rangers, currently on a 2 year deal that carries an average annual value and cap hit of $787,500 per season, and it will be very interesting to see how the Rangers respond to a very controversial incident that is quickly garnering a lot of negative attention.