Michael Grabner shows gory eye day after taking stick to face

The day after Arizona Coyotes forward Michael Grabner was forced to leave a hockey game after taking an opposing player’s stick to the face, he provided a gory update.

If you’re squeamish, you’ll want to look away.

Grabner posted a story Sunday to his Instagram of his right eye, which was closed shut and surrounded by blood.

He was at least lighthearted about the incident, captioning the photo “at least the stache is intact #recovery time.”

The Coyotes announced Sunday Grabner would be out indefinitely.

The incident happened with 5:36 remaining in the first period and Arizona leading the St. Louis Blues 1-0.

Grabner was along the wall in his own zone near the Coyotes bench and as Blues forward Sammy Blais took a swing at the puck, his stick hit Grabner sharply in the face, near the eye.

Blais received a 4-minute double minor penalty for the high-sticking incident.

Grabner has had a big season so far in his first campaign with Arizona, scoring six goals — four of them shorthanded, which is the most in the NHL — with five assists. He’s also been a critical piece of the team’s penalty kill, which was the top PK unit in the league entering play on Saturday.

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