Winnipeg Jets Player Returns To Playoff Game With Over 75 Stitches In Face Following Gruesome Injury

Hockey players are revered for their toughness.

And there’s perhaps no better example of that than Winnipeg Jets center Morgan Barron.

Barron, 24, played in Winnipeg’s bottom six this season and notched just 21 points in 70 games. But his value is in his dependability, and that was on full display during Tuesday’s Stanley Cup Playoff game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Nova Scotia native was forced to leave in the game in the first period after a scary, gruesome injury suffered when a skate blade came up and struck him in the face.

Barrow immediately went to the Jets’ locker room as blood poured out of his face. In most sports, he’d immediately head to the hospital.

But this is hockey, and these are the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

So instead, Barron received more than 75 stitches in his face from team doctors and returned just one period later. The Jets went on to claim a 5-1 victory and a 1-0 series lead.

After the game, Barron had a shockingly lighthearted view of the situation.

“I was trying to figure out if the puck went in because it was pretty close,” he said. “I saw the skate coming. It was an unlucky play. The first thought was that I could see out of the [right] eye was the main thing.”

Jets coach Rick Bowness said that Barron’s return helped energize his team.

“I think more his presence coming back because we all realized how bad it was, and that gave everyone a big boost,” Bowness said.

While teammate Adam Lowry, who scored Winnipeg’s fifth and final goal, admitted that it was a pretty scary situation.

“Looks like he got attacked by a shark,” Lowry said said. “It’s a scary thing. We’re all so worried about the puck crossing the line, and all of the sudden we see a trail of blood all the way from the crease to the bench.”

Thankfully, Barron somehow seems okay and now has a cool scar to show for it.