The New York Rangers’ Alberts Smits laid a heavy hit on Tampa Bay’s Erik Cernak in front of the Lightning bench on Thursday night, but linesman Ryan Daisy got the worst of it.
Working Lightning vs. Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Daisy was positioned along the benches right at the point of contact when Smits, the Rangers’ 2026 fifth-overall pick, drove Erik Cernak into the boards. The force of the collision sent Daisy crashing over the boards and into the Lightning bench.
Curiously, the NHL’s official play-by-play loggers never credited Smits with the hit. His only ‘official’ hit of the game came at 5:41 of the second period, on Zemgus Girgensons. The league’s stat trackers missed this one. Liney Ryan Daisy wishes it had missed him.
Daisy was not injured on the play; he climbed out of the bench and back on to the ice without missing a beat.
The Mansfield, Massachusetts, native is in his 11th NHL season after coming up through the NAHL, USHL, AHL, and ECHL. He worked the 2016 Calder Cup Final before joining the NHL full-time in 2016-17.
Officials for the game were referees Frederick L’Ecuyer (#17) and Morgan MacPhee (#43) with lineys Travis Gawryletz (#67) and Ryan Daisy (#81).
