Scary injury just rocked Vegas at the absolute worst possible moment
Brayden McNabb didn't come back after a first-period hit in Friday night's Game 2, and John Tortorella's Vegas Knights now have a real problem on the blue line.
The hit came from Colorado's Sam Malinski. The clip surfaced via Spittin' Chiclets minutes later, and the visual was the kind that empties the air out of a road bench.
McNabb went down awkwardly, his leg caught up in the contact, and trainers were on him fast. He skated off and didn't return.
The 35-year-old defenceman is a load-bearing piece for Vegas this spring. 12 playoff games, 1 goal, 2 assists, and a plus-6 rating through three rounds.
He's also been a penalty-kill anchor, posting a shorthanded goal in this postseason. Losing that ice time mid-series against the Colorado Avalanche stings on multiple fronts.
Vegas walked into Ball Arena with a 1-0 series lead after winning Game 1 by a 4-2 score on Wednesday night.
Tortorella faces a depth test with the Avalanche pressing
McNabb earns 3.65 million dollars on the cap and plays the kind of heavy minutes Tortorella demands. You don't replace that with a press-box body in May.
The eye test on the play was ugly. McNabb absorbed the hit, Malinski's skate caught his leg at a bad angle, and he never put weight on it cleanly walking off.
-
Vegas finished the regular season 39-26-17 for 95 points, first in the Pacific Division. Their playoff run has been built on shutdown defence, not flash.
Strip McNabb out, and Tortorella starts juggling pairings against a Colorado top six that doesn't need invitations to attack.
No update has been confirmed on McNabb's status for Sunday's Game 3 at T-Mobile Arena. The locker room will know more after the team plane lands.
Here's the question Knights fans should be sitting with. Can this defence corps hold its shape if their veteran rock misses any portion of a Conference Final?
Game 3 puck drop comes fast. Vegas will need answers faster.
|
LIVE
MAY 22, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ross Colton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Nick Blankenburg | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| Nic Dowd | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | - | - | |
| Carter Hart | - | - | - | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | - | - | |
| Brett Howden | - | - | - | |
| William Karlsson | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | - | - | |
| Kaedan Korczak | - | - | - | |
| Brett Kulak | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||