It was an official that delivered the biggest and scariest hit of the night during Wednesday’s preseason game between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar was shaken up with just 4:10 remaining in the third period as a cross check by Blame Comeau sent him flying into the boards and right into the path of linesman Derek Amell. Although Amell did all he could to get out of the way of the young star, it was to no avail. As the linesman jumped in the air, his knees made direct contact with Tatar’s head, knocking him backward to the ice.
Tatar attempted to stand up on his own, but eventually had to be helped off the ice with the help of a trainer and a teammate. The 23-year-old didn’t return to the game.
Detroit was obliterated by injuries last season, and they have already lost Pavel Datsyuk and top prospect Anthony Mantha to preseason injuries this year, but the early word on Tatar is that he’s going to be OK.
“He got hammered pretty good, said it’s worse than UFC,” Babcock said while laughing, via MLive.com. “He’s going to be fine.”
