Buffalo Sabres’ commentator Rob Ray kept it pushing despite a mid-game injury on Saturday after a puck smacked him in the face during a live TV broadcast.
The moment arrived when New York Rangers defensemen Will Borgen hit the puck over the boards in the first period and struck Ray, a rinkside reporter and former NHL player who spent most of his career in Buffalo.
“Ah, fuck!” exclaimed Ray, whose profane reaction was picked up by the MSG Network broadcast.
Ray — who has the sixth-most penalty minutes in NHL history and whose fighting habits as a player sparked a league rule change — was left with “gashes above his eye and on his nose” along with a broken pair of glasses, Buffalo’s WIVB-TV reported.
Harry Scull Jr., staff photographer at The Buffalo News, captured a snap of the former NHL bruiser’s face after the hit.
The commentator, who took a hit to the face yet again last season, didn’t let his latest encounter with a puck sideline him on Saturday.
When asked later in the game where the puck hit him, Ray pointed to the “golf ball”-sized bump above his eyebrows as the broadcast cameras zoomed in on his face.
“Yeah, that’s not normal, that’s not normal,” he said as he looked into the camera.
The Sabres would eventually beat the Rangers in an 8-2 win at home.