Referee who collided with Lightning player expected to make full recovery
PITTSBURGH — The crowd fell silent during the third period of the Lightning’s 5-4 loss to the Penguins Saturday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, as referee Steve Kozari lay motionless on his back at center ice.
Kozari was injured in a violent collision with Lightning defenseman Haydn Fleury in open ice, as neither saw the other coming. Fleury, visibly shaken, stayed down on his knees with his head on the ice for several moments before getting up and skating off under his own power.
Kozari didn’t move immediately after the hit. Medical personnel rushed to the ice, and he was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled off the ice. As he was leaving, he did reach out to grab linesman Kyle Flemington’s hand, which prompted a loud ovation from the crowd and stick taps from players on both teams.
The NHL released a statement after the game saying Kozari “is conscious and alert, has use of all of his extremities and is expected to make a full recovery.” He had been transported to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh for precautionary reasons.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper left the team’s coaches room after the game to check on Kozari, a full-time NHL referee since 2007 who entered this season with 1,151 regular-season games and four Stanley Cup finals under his belt.
Fleury did not return to the game. Cooper said he went to the dressing room during a break in play to look in on the defenseman.
“Naturally, he was a little shook up, but it was just one of those plays that’s kind of a freak accident,” Cooper said. “But hopefully both guys are going to be OK.”
In February, another Lightning defenseman, Mikhail Sergachev, was wheeled off the ice while sitting up on a stretcher after breaking two bones in his lower left leg during a game at Madison Square Garden.
“That was tough to watch,” Cooper said. “Between (Saturday’s) and the Sergachev one, we’ve had some tough instances to see that happen.”
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