Dallas Stars player narrowly avoids catastrophic injury in Game 4 loss at Minnesota
In real time it happened so fast the naked eye could have missed that Dallas Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist absorbed a hit that could have changed his life.
The type of play the NHL has worked hard to make sure no longer happen.
The type of play that made that name Clint Malarchuk famous for reasons he would prefer never to have happened.
At the 13:15 mark of the second period during Game 4 of the Stars’ first-round playoff series at Minnesota on Saturday afternoon, Lundkvist sustained a terrifying injury when he took a skate to his face. During a play in front of the net, Lundkvist’s stick tripped Minnesota center Michael McCarron; as he fell to the ice, his skate came up and hit Lundkvist, who does wear a face shield on his helmet.
If that scenario is not bad enough, Lundkvist was penalized for tripping on the play; rather than go to the penalty box he immediately retreated to the Stars’ locker room. The Stars said during the game that Lundkvist was “questionable” to return.
The Stars in a statement to the media that Lundkvist left the game with an “an upper-body injury.” The face is part of the upper-body, so technically they’re not lying.
Because it’s hockey, and it’s the Stanley Cup playoffs, it must be said that Lundkvist indeed did not return to the game. Considering the history of this sport, players are known to try to play through dismemberment, and decapitation.
The Lundkvist injury was the scary note in an entertaining game, and one that the Stars ultimately blew. The Wild came back to defeat the Stars 3-2 in overtime to tie the series at two.
The Stars had the game, and the series, in hand but ... the playoffs happened. Leading 2-1 with less than six minutes remaining in the third period, the Stars could not close it out as the Wild scored with 5:30 left in regulation to effectively force overtime.
Unlike the OT in Game 3 that worked out for the Stars, this one did not. The Wild scored the game-winner with 29 seconds remaining in the first overtime when forward Matt Boldy tipped in a shot past Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.
Game 5 is Tuesday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
The injury to Lundkvist comes at a time when he was playing the best hockey of his five-year NHL career. The native of Sweden has been a favorite of Stars GM Jim Nill’s, as he has patiently waited to see this prospect become a player.
The severity of the injury and long-term prognosis for Lundkvist is still TBD. After the game, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan told reporters that Lundkvist suffered a deep facial laceration, and will be evaluated when the team returns to Texas.
Gulutzan was not sure if Lundkvist left the arena to go to a hospital.
The Stars clearly missed Lundkvist, as they played with five defensemen the remainder of the game.
Any time there is a skate-to-the-face area in hockey, it will draw comparisons to one of the worst times in the history of the game. And one of the worst injuries in sports’ history.
On March 22, 1989, Buffalo Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk nearly died during a game against St. Louis when the skate of the Blues’ Steve Tuttle cut Malarchuk’s neck. The blade sliced Malarchuk’s carotid artery, and he immediately began bleeding on the ice.
Had it not been for the immediate response by team trainer Jim Pizzutelli, who recognized the severity of the injury and pinched the artery to slow the bleeding, Malarchuk may have died on the ice. Pizzutelli served in the Vietnam War as a combat medic.
Malarchuk required 300 stitches, a transfusion of 1.5 liters of blood. He returned to play not long after sustaining the injury. He later said that he suffered PTSD and struggled emotionally as a result of the injury, as he never adequately addressed the near-death experience.
At the time, goalie masks did not have any protection of the neck area. Since the injury, goalie masks changed to include a piece of protection that was attached; the masks now extend to cover a wider portion to ensure that what happened to Malarchuk would not occur again.
He was in the middle of era in the NHL where protection and equipment was changing. This was a sport that for a long time did not require players to wear helmets. Those who did were considered soft, among other unflattering terms.
Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist was wearing all the proper equipment, and he still sustained a scary injury that could have been much worse.
This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 8:08 PM.
