An NHL referee miraculously escaped serious injury when he copped an accidental stick to the head, causing the game seven of the Stanley Cup match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers to come to a halt.
During Monday’s pivotal game in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, referee Chris Rooney suffered a serious cut above his eye, when he took an inadvertent high stick to the face from Panthers player Niko Mikkola.
Rooney fell to the ice as blood gushed onto the playing surface, forcing play to stop for several minutes.
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The moment Rooney copped a stick in the face. TNT
Chris Rooney will be available to officiate the next round. TNT
Rooney was eventually helped off the ice and received stitches and did not return to the game.
According to The Athletic, Rooney had a black eye the morning after, but did not suffer any eye damage. He hopes to be back later this round.
The match ended with Florida taking it 6-1.
Seth Jones, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich scored in a second-period burst and Eetu Luostarinen, Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand — into an empty net — added goals in the third. Marchand, Luostarinen and Aleksander Barkov each had two assists.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final.
