Jon Merrill's NHL debut cut short by shot to face (VIDEO)

It would be understandable if New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer wanted to blow off some steam after back-to-back losses this weekend, but that doesn't mean he'll blame Minnesota's Torrey Mitchell for tripping rookie Jon Merrill on Sunday:

“It looked accidental to me,” DeBoer told nj.com after the bloodied Devils defenseman had to be helped from the ice during a 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Merrill’s NHL debut was cut short less than five minutes into the game when he was crashed into the boards and suffered facial lacerations that sidelined him for the rest of the night

The 21-year-old Merrill needed stitches and underwent baseline (concussion) testing, but wasn’t available for questions following the contest.