At the 7:23 mark of the second period on Tuesday night, Avalanche forward Matt Duchene took a puck off the face. That puck came off the stick of Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, who if you haven't heard, has a pretty hard shot.

Duchene had played literally just about every other even strength shift for the Avs to that point in the game, and all of Denver held their breath as their best players skated to the bench to get examined by team doctors.

The next shift last 13 seconds and the whistle was blown when the puck went into the crowd. When the puck dropped again at the 7:35 mark of the period, Duchene was back on the ice for the faceoff. The Avs scored to take a 2-1 lead on a P.A. Parenteau goal on that shift and never looked back, winning 3-1.

Duchene finished the game leading all forwards (on either team) in ice time with 22:19. He put the "19 stitches" thing off until after the game. Here's how he looked via Mike Chambers of the Denver Post:

Hockey, man.