Being an official in the NHL is not an easy job. It is very physical as the referees on always on the ice and there is constant criticism from fans. On-ice officials are also subject to collisions with players, which occasionally can be dangerous.
Tonight we saw one of these job hazards for NHL officials as one linesman took a stumble into the Blue Jackets bench as he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Linesman was at the blueline along the boards where he should be when Devils forward Michael McLeod tried to bring the puck into the zone. The resulting play lead to the linesman going head over heels into the bench.
Safe to say that Erik Gudbranson owes that linesman a fancy dinner after the game. While plays like this are somewhat uncommon, they occur at a high enough frequency that it isn't seen as particularly unusual whenever something like this happens. Every time it does though, it is always funny. As long as no one gets hurt. We never want to see anyone get hurt in the NHL, including the referees. No matter how hard they are trying to screw over our favorite NHL teams.
