Kane eats a stick to the face, goes crashing head first into the boards.

The 2018 Winter Classic was by all accounts a massive success for the National Hockey League and it created an unforgettable moment for fans of the New York Rangers, who walked away with the victory, but it wasn't such a great moment for the Buffalo Sabres. 

Not only did the Sabres lose the game to the Rangers but their leading scorer got rocked in the games very first period when he took a brutal shot to the face that resulted in him going head first into the boards.

While it seems fair to say that the Rangers' Mika Zibanejad was following-through on his shot, that won't make Buffalo Sabres star Evander Kane feel any better about what was effectively a hard slash across the center of his face. Things were made even worse for Kane however when he contacted the boards, in the replay you can clearly see his head rock back when he smashes it against the edge of the boards. 

Kane was a bloody mess after it all but it's unclear if the stick or the boards did the damage. 

[pub]