Never-seen-before scene on Lightning bench leads to bizarre penalty

Here’s something you truly don’t see every day. The Tampa Bay Lightning were assessed a minor penalty for bench interference after assistant coach Dan Hinote jumped up and tried to catch a puck that had been shot out of play. I mean, a coach, on the bench, instinctively went for the puck… and the officials made the call.

The bizarre moment immediately caught fans off guard, and it didn’t take long for the clip to start making the rounds online. Bench interference penalties are rare enough, but this, I had never seen…

Watch the sequence below:

And if that wasn’t strange enough, it wasn’t the only head-scratching call of Tuesday night.

In Montreal, Canadiens star defenseman Lane Hutson was called for tripping Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno, despite never making contact with him. The replay made the mistake obvious, and it didn’t take long for the officials to realize it.

At the start of the third period, referee Eric Furlatt skated over to Hutson to personally apologize for the blown call, a rare but appreciated moment of accountability after video evidence showed the trip never happened.

Two games and two calls that left fans shaking their heads. Tuesday night served as a reminder that even in the NHL, you really can see something new every day.