Video: Anssi Salmela Scores, Gets Crushed by Jeff Carter

Anssi Salmela was a nice under-the-radar pickup for the New Jersey Devils in last week's Ilya Kovalchuk trade, and on Monday night he made an impact with his second goal of the season -- shorthanded -- just one minute into the second period, giving the Devils a 2-0 lead.

Just as the puck was crossing the goal line, Philadelphia's Jeff Carter was lining him up.

The result was not pretty.

After being down on the ice for several minutes, Salmela was taken off on a stretcher and was shown moving his arms and legs. There was no penalty called on the play.

According to his agent, via Twitter, Salmela suffered a broken nose and lost several teeth but "will be OK."

These are the types of plays that always result in brutal arguments from hockey fans as to what is a clean hit, and what is not a clean hit. Carter finishes his check, which he has to do in that situation, but it appears to be one of those always controversial hits to the head -- and Salmela never saw it coming. As we all know by now, there is no rule against head shots in the NHL. The other thing to consider is that some of the damage likely came from the fact he fell face-first on the ice, as TSN's Bob McKenzie pointed out.

Regardless of when the damage was done, Colin Campbell is still likely to give it a look Tuesday morning.

What happens then, as always, is anybody's guess.

Despite falling down in the 2-0 hole, Philadelphia rallied to win the game 3-2.