Reid Schaefer takes Scott Morrow's skate to the face.

Nashville Predators forward Reid Schaefer needs to be thanking his lucky stars tonight after narrowly avoiding a truly horrific disaster.

On Sunday night, during a clash between the Predators and the New York Rangers, Schaefer was on the receiving end of a skate blade to the face in one of the worst looking incidents in recent memory. The entire situation was a terrible accident, with Schaefer delivering a hit to Rangers defenseman Scott Morrow that sent Morrow crashing down to the ice.

Morrow sprawled out as he fell and Schaefer followed through with the motion of his hit, a combination of factors that resulted in Morrow's skate blade quite literally slicing across Schaefer's face. Schaefer's initial reaction was, understandably, one of panic, but by the time he reached the Predators' bench it became clear that he had avoided the worst of it.

Despite a nasty looking gash across the length of his chin, Schaefer appeared to be relatively unharmed for how dire of a situation he had just found himself in.

You can see the replay of the incident as well as the damage done to Schaefer's face just below: