Close up photo of Jakub Vrana surfaces after forward nearly has part of his nose cut off by skate

St. Louis Blues winger Jakub Vrana is thriving two weeks after being basically given away by Detriot Red Wings' general manager Steve Yzerman.

Earlier this week during the Blues' morning skate the Czech winger collided with a teammate and took a skate blade just under his nose.

Vrana was holding a towel over his nose and bleeding. He had both nostrils plugged, gauze and tape wrapped following stitches as he was leaving Enterprise Center following one of those injuries that could have been much worse had it been in a different spot.

Despite getting twenty five stitches in his face, Vrana was ready for the game against the Minnesota Wild wearing a full face mask. St. Louis lost 8-5 but Vrana had a very good game producing two goals.

Vrana's first goal came 14:10 into the first period. Skating the puck past several Wild defenders, Vrana found some open ice and beat Marc-Andre Fleury high short-side.

Three minutes and 43 seconds later, Vrana scored again via a huge slap shot off a faceoff. The shot beat MAF to the far side of the net, just past his outstretched glove.

Vrana now has four goals in five games with the Blues since being traded by the Red Wings for a seventh-round pick and minor-leaguer Dylan McLaughlin. The Red Wings retained 50 percent of Vrana's remaining salary.

After two years of turbulence with Detriot it appears Vrana has found a home in St. Louis.

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