"Dirtier than Jamie Benn" "No coincidence he injured Hintz": Fans react as Nathan MacKinnon's hit on Chris Tanev causes temporary exit and lost tooth

In Wednesday's Game 5 between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, Stars defenseman Chris Tanev had a collision with Nathan MacKinnon. Fans reacted to the incident.

It happened during the early frame of the game near the Stars' defensive zone. As Nathan MacKinnon tried to skate in the other direction, his shoulder accidentally hit Chris Tanev's mouth, causing him to lose at least one tooth, as confirmed by coach Pete DeBoer after the game.

It was a painful moment for Tanev, as he had to temporarily leave the ice and even had the tooth in his hand as he made his way back to the locker room.

Despite Tanev losing his tooth, referees determined that MacKinnon didn't intentionally cause the incident.

Following the incident, NHL fans, though, wasted no time in expressing their thoughts and opinions, with fan tweeting:

"Nathan Mackinnon dirtier than Jamie Benn all series"

Another chimed in and opined that it should be a four to five game suspension for MacKinnon for his play:

"Mckinnon makes zero effort to avoid Tanev - should have been 5 and a game. No coincidence he injured Hintz in game 4."

"I get that it's MacKinnon, but at some point the NHL can't keep allowing him to take out Stars best players, right?, another fan said.

Another fan said:

"He finished Nolan Patrick's career with a hit to the head. Good to see Tanev was able to return"

One fan expressed their perspective and believed that it was a collision rather than a deliberate hit from MacKinnon:

Red wings fan here, i hate both teams so im pretty unbiased. This wasn't a hit, this was a collision. Tanev turned into him, Mackinnon didn't make an attempt to avoid contact, they collided. No penalty here, just hockey.

"It’s a collision… Mac had to dodge stakovens leg.. there’s nothing more to it," another fan said.

DoBoer said in his post-game comments that Chris Tanev's tooth was pushed in during the collision and had to be removed to ensure he'd be able to continue playing.

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Nathan MacKinnon on Game 5 win over Dallas Stars

On Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche staved off elimination after beating the Dallas Stars 5-3 in Game 5 at the American Airlines Center to go 3-2 in the series.

Arturri Lehkonen accumulated two points for the Avs, while Cale Makar netted twice on the night. Nathan MacKinnon, who garnered two points, expressed his thoughts on the game (via NHL.com):

“I don’t think we’ve had a lead for one second in this series. Finally got one,” MacKinnon said.

“Obviously, we wanted one in the first, but that’s a tough goal for them to give up with less than one second left. It was big for us. Tied it up again. Finally got a lead. It was nice to get the lead for once.”

Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars returns to Ball Arena on Friday.