NHL linesman Bryan Pancich forced into the bench by huge hit from Alex Ovechkin
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NHL linesman Bryan Pancich earned his paycheck tonight after he absorbed a hit from Alex Ovechkin that sent him reeling into the New Jersey Devils' bench.
The play came during the first period as the Capitals start their season at home against the Devils, who have already played three games, going 2-1-0 so far. Naturally, Ovechkin was looking to generate some energy for the sold-out crowd so he went to make a big hit on Devils forward Tomas Tatar along the boards in front of the Devils bench. Unfortunately for Linesman Bryan Pancich, he was also in the area and took some of the impact, forcing him backward into the bench.
With that being said, Pancich is a certified pro at this point in his career, having appeared in more than 900 career regular-season contests. He knows the physicality of the league and is prepared for physical altercations like this one. After all, the Linesmen often end up in harm's way when players get into fights and other random instances, such as when players try to rim pucks out of the zone.
The Capitals were a surprise playoff team last year, making the first round despite having a negative goal differential. They are not expected to repeat that this year, but just about everyone on the team has one thing in mind. Coming into this season, Ovechkin is just 42 goals shy of Wayne Gretzky's record and his teammates are confident that he will break the record in his career, if not this season.
With that being said, Ovechkin is now 39-years-old, making him one of the oldest players in the league. Scoring is a young man's game, so it may take him a little while longer to get back into goal-scoring form this year. Luckily, the great eight has accomplished just about everything he can at this point, including winning the Stanley Cup. Certainly, he would love to win again, but if he doesn't at least we won't be saying too bad he never won, like we have with so many great players from his generation such as Joe Thornton. Regardless, it should be an exciting year for Caps fans as he chases the record so hopefully he will find the back of the net plenty of times this season.
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