It was a strange, painful night for the NHL's referees. In two separate incidents, players put the smackdown - intentional or not - on the league's black and white's. To be fair to both players involved, Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman and Los Angeles Kings forward Milan Lucic, it seemed to be nothing more than a matter of a strange confluence of events leading to unintentional physicality toward the zebras.
Let's take a look at each.
Wideman certainly looked a little woozy after the hit from Nashville Predators forward Miikka Salomaki. He was headed straight for the bench and moving slowly, well behind the play. Wideman later apologized and claimed he didn't see the linesman and it's entirely possible that his vision was in some way compromised by the hit. He turns a split second before making contact with the referee and throws up his hands.
"I took a pretty hard hit down in the corner and had some pretty good pain in my shoulder and my neck and I was just trying to get off the ice," Wideman said after the game, per Frank Seravalli of TSN. "I was kind of keeled over and at the last second, I looked up and I saw him and I couldn't avoid it."
It winds up looking like a crosscheck, but it's hard to say whether it was intentional. Unfortunately, as Seravalli notes, even if it was unintentional, it very well may result in a suspension for the big blueliner. Under Rule 40, the league has the option to ban him for 10 to 20 games, but not fewer than 10.
Lucic's incident likely carries potential for the same penalty. It happened so quickly that it's easy to miss, but as you can see when the camera zooms in, Lucic's glove clearly makes contact with the referee's face.
It's hard to fault Lucic here though. He was part of a post-play scrum in front of the net, surrounded by bodies, many of them clad in jerseys that, at first glance, are similarly colored. The ref kind of sneaks in to break things up as Lucic is cocked and loaded and winds up taking the brunt of the hit as an Avalanche player slips out of the way.
Neither play is unforgivable, but in a game where physicality and fisticuffs are so ingrained in the sport itself, it's bound to happen from time to time.
Wednesday night just wasn't the ref's night.
