Injury Scare to NHL Linesman Kilian McNamara Ends Up With a Surprisingly Satisfying Result

With the LA Kings up 1-0 over the Nashville Predators in the second period, Predators defenseman Marc Del Gaizo gained the red line and dumped the puck into the Kings' zone. As he was dumping the puck in, Kempe attempted to finish his check on the 2019 fourth-round pick and Del Gaizo tried to side-step the hit. As Del Gaizo side-stepped the hit, hit leg inadvertantly caught the leg of linesman Killan McNamara which caused him to lose balance before colliding with Kempe. The simultaneous contact caused McNamara to go head-over-heels and land awkwardly.

McNamara remained on the ice for a few moments after to collect his breath and was tended to by trainers to ensure that he was okay. Eventually he got to his knees and began smiling and laughing about the incident and remained in the game.

As much as coaches, players and fans despise officials at times, they do have a very difficult job to do and sometimes it leads to collisions like the one we saw last night. Thankfully, it ended up being a harmless collision and not something more devastating like the injury Steve Kozari suffered near the end of last season that saw him stretchered off the ice.

A thankless job most of the time, and while emotions get the best of players in the heat of the moment, there is a very mutual respect between the players and officials as was demonstrated last night when players from both teams went to check on McNamara.