Montreal had been behind for about three minutes, Olen Zellweger having opened the scoring for the visiting Sabres, when play stopped at the Bell Centre for a reason nobody wanted.
Linesman Ryan Daisy had gone down near the faceoff circle at 5:28 of the first period after Sabres forward Jiri Kulich crashed into his leg following a draw. Daisy’s left leg folded underneath him as he fell. He stayed down while a trainer knelt beside him and players from both teams gathered around.
He couldn’t put any weight on the leg. Canadiens forwards Jake Evans and Owen Beck eventually got him up and helped him off the ice, one under each arm.
“OMG, linesman Ryan Daisy just suffered an awful leg injury in Montreal. Terrible,” Michael Russo wrote on X.
Who is Ryan Daisy?
Ten years ago to the day, on October 13, 2016, the Mansfield, Massachusetts native worked his first NHL game. Tuesday was the anniversary of it, and it ended with him being carried off by two opposing forwards.
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The league confirmed shortly afterwards that he wouldn’t be coming back.
“Linesperson Ryan Daisy will not be returning to the Sabres-Canadiens game,” the NHL said. “The game will continue with two referees and one linesperson.”
Three-man crews are rare but not unheard of, and the remaining officials worked the rest of the night. No update on Daisy’s condition had been issued by the league or his union.
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