Ryan Reaves ejected after destroying Darnell Nurse.
Darnell Nurse busted open and hurt after a brutal hit from Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves.
Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Raves will likely get a call from the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety for this one.
Reaves has been ejected from Saturday night's game against the Edmonton Oilers after he delivered a brutal hit that took out Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Nurse was working the puck behind the Oilers net when Reaves cut him off and leveled him with a monstrous hit that came from a big man with a full head of steam.
Unfortunately for both Reaves and Nurse, the hit would catch Nurse up high and would absolutely level the Oilers defenseman, knocking him clean off his feet and causing Nurse's head to smack against the ice with a sickening thud. Here is a look at the hit from up close:
Here is another set of angles that were shown during the replay:
It would take Nurse several long moments to get back up on his skates, to no one's surprise, but the damage was already done. Nurse looked like he was seeing stars and was leaking from at least one cut on his face, with a streak of crimson clearly visible on the ice as well as on his face and the hands of the Oilers medical staff that quickly tried to stop the bleeding.
Here is a look at the full replay in which you can see the damage to Nurse's face as well as the fact that Nurse is badly rocked by the hit:
What made the hit even worse is that Nurse had his head down and was looking at the puck as he came around the back of the net, which indicated to me that he never even saw Reaves coming and was entirely unable to protect himself from the impact of the hit.
Hopefully Nurse is going to be ok.