RALEIGH, N.C. — Brayden McNabb’s night ended early Thursday after a deflected puck caught him under the face shield and struck the bridge of his nose midway through the first period of Game 2 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The veteran defenseman immediately skated down the tunnel with his glove over his mouth and did not return, leaving the Golden Knights to finish the game with five defensemen. ESPN reported that McNabb left Lenovo Center and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

“It’s terrifying. I’m going to try to check on him after here, and hopefully he’s all good,” forward Mitch Marner said. “He’s a warrior. He’s done so many great things for us. It’s a big miss whenever he’s out of the lineup for sure.”

McNabb had appeared in 298 consecutive regular-season games before an upper-body injury in January sidelined him. He is expected to wear a protective face cage if he returns during the playoffs.

“I mean, it’s a scary play,” forward Brett Howden said. “You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right. We haven’t seen him yet, but hope he’s doing OK.”

The Knights ultimately fell 4-3 in overtime, with Seth Jarvis scoring the winner. The loss was Vegas’s first in overtime this postseason after winning three straight extra-period games.

“It’s obviously tough when you lose one like that after you battle back,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “Take a few hours, sit on it a little bit and then tomorrow, we go back home and we got to regroup here and take care of business in Vegas.”

Marner, who assisted on Howden’s first-period goal, now has a league-high 24 points in the playoffs. He is tied with Alex Ovechkin and two others for second-most points in the first 10 road playoff games with a single team (16), trailing only Wayne Gretzky (19).