Linesman Julien Fournier was certainly in play on Saturday afternoon as the Detroit Red Wings hosted the Ottawa Senators. The fourth-year official hopped up on the Detroit Red Wings’ bench to avoid the puck only to end up right in the line of fire.
Detroit’s Dylan Larkin, his club shorthanded, looked to backhand the puck out of the zone. Instead of clearing the puck all the way down the ice, the shorthanded Red Wings found themselves quickly back on defense, as the puck hit the linesman’s skate and caromed right to Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk along the boards.
The Senators took advantage of the fortuitous bounce, quickly re-entering the Detroit zone and scoring on the power play to take a 4-3 lead.
Fournier looked to be in some discomfort but remained in the game.
Ottawa went on to defeat the Wings by a score of 6-3. Officials for the game were referees Francois St. Laurent (#8) and Gord Dwyer (#19), with linesmen Michel Cormier (#76) and Julien Fournier (#86).
