Sidney Crosby has taken hits from just about everyone in the NHL over 22 seasons. On Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena, he took one from a guy on the ice who isn’t allowed to throw one – linesperson Travis Gawryletz.
In the opening minutes of the first period of the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators, Crosby was gliding toward the offensive zone as the play came up ice. Gawryletz (#67), working the blue line, swung his arm out to signal the play onside, catching Crosby flush in the face.
The Penguins captain went down, falling to the ice near the blue line.
Crosby stayed down briefly. He got up, exchanged a few words with Gawryletz on the unintentional contact, and headed to the bench, checking his mouth for blood.
That wasn’t the only thing that caught Crosby up high. He also took a puck to the face in the second period, again with no apparent damage. Once again, Sid hung in there, logging an eventual 19:38 of ice time that including setting up Rickard Rakell’s late third-period tying goal before Ville Koivunen won it in overtime.
There is, of course, no call to make on a play like this. The officials are part of the game, and incidental contact between a player and an official – even an arm to the face – won’t draw a whistle unless there’s an injury on the play. Gawryletz was focused on the onside – rightfully so – and his arm had to go somewhere.
Gawryletz, a veteran of 594 career regular-season games, was working the game alongside linesperson Kyle Flemington (#55) and referees Michael Markovic (#31) and Brandon Blandina (#39).
No one was injured on the play, and both guys finished the game – Crosby with an assist and the win, Gawryletz with an addition to the blooper reel that he’ll be hearing about for a while.
