Avery Hayes takes an elbow to the head from an NHL official!

Talk about having the referees, or in this case linesmen, working against you!

On Saturday, during an early game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, Penguins rookie forward Avery Hayes was treated to the surprise of a lifetime when he received an elbow to the head from the most unexpected of sources.

We were just minutes into the game when National Hockey League official Steve Barton tried to hop the boards to the Rangers bench but didn't quite get over as far as he would like. Barton seemed to be off balance and was still leaning over the ice when Hayes came flying by and slammed his own head into Barton's arm and elbow.

The end result was what looked like a spectacular hit, with Hayes going fully horizontal in mid-air, but of course there was no official hit on the play.

Perhaps most ridiculous of all however was Barton signaling the zone entry after the fact from inside of the Rangers bench, with the whole thing looking like a complete fiasco while Avery was still down on the ice from the unexpected impact.

In spite of the fact that he had just been completely blindsided by a hit from an NHL official, Hayes showed some real toughness by bouncing right back up to his feet and appeared to be suffering no ill-effects from the blow he had just received.

Here is a look at the replay: