I was at a Dallas Stars game some years ago at the American Airlines Center. A puck came sailing off the ice and up into stands toward my section. First reaction was to try and catch it. Sensing the stupidity of that, I put my hand back down. Would’ve missed it anyway as it sailed far over my head all the way up to the upper section and knocked a kid out cold. He recovered. The next season, the nets surrounded the entire ice, not just the areas behind the goals. The same can and should be done for baseball ... at least to the end of the dugouts.
My memory is that in a different incident a young girl was actually killed by such an errant puck, which the NHL reacted to by installing the end-line netting.