WATCH: NHL Ref Takes Down Bruins Star, Leaves Him Flat On His Back
An NHL referee took down one of the games’ biggest stars Sunday night, leaving him flat on his back on the ice.
In Sunday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, Brad Marchand of the red-hot Boston Bruins, who have won six straight games and lead the league with 93 points, was skating from behind his own net around the boards with the puck when referee Wes McCauley, who played minor league hockey before becoming an NHL referee like his father John, stuck out his arm, sending Marchand sprawling on his back.
Wes McCauley takes down Brad Marchand??
— Everything Hockey (@EHClothing) February 26, 2023
Big hit by Wes McCauley to knock Brad Marchand off the puck in the corner#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/CJQxrdeTMS
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) February 26, 2023
Only two days before, on Friday the NHL Department of Player Safety fined Marchand $5,000 after he slew-footed the Seattle Kraken’s Oliver Bjorkstrand in Thursday’s game.
Boston’s Brad Marchand has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for a dangerous trip on Seattle’s Oliver Bjorkstrand.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) February 24, 2023
In November 2021, Marchand slew-footed the Canucks’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which prompted the NHL to suspend him for three games.
In 2017, Marchand was fined $10,000 for tripping the Detroit Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall and in 2011 he was fined $2,500 for slew-footing Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen.
Marchand came back this season after off-season hip surgery on both hips. His first full season in the NHL came in 2010-11, when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972. He had 41 points that season, then had a spectacular playoff run, scoring 11 goals in 25 games, a rookie playoff record for the team. In Game 7 of the finals against the Vancouver Canucks, Marchand had two goals and an assist as the Bruins won 4-0.
He scored 37 goals, which ranked sixth in the NHL, in 2015-16, then led and led the Bruins in scoring with 85 points in each of the next two seasons before scoring 100 points in 2018-19. In the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he scored 23 points before the Bruins lost the seventh game to the St. Louis Blues.
In Sunday’s game, Bruin’s goalie Linus Ullmark, who is well on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender, scored an empty-net goal.
A tendy shot to CELLY ? pic.twitter.com/Mt5BBOtIJa
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 26, 2023
The only goalies to score more than one goal are Ron Hextall, who scored one in the regular season and one in the playoffs, and Martin Brodeur, who scored two in the regular season and one in the playoffs.
Read More: WATCH: NHL Ref Takes Down Bruins Star, Leaves Him Flat On His Back