Linesman gets physical with Leafs forward Michael Bunting

If you missed the first period of tonight's action between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, you missed some old time 'take no prisoners' hockey... and that's just from the on-ice officials!

In all sincerity, the Bolts and Leafs a pretty uneventful period in which the Leafs did come out ahead 1-0 thanks to forward Michael Bunting. And while Bunting has scored the game's only goal, that wasn't even the most interesting play he was a part of in the opening frame.

No, to me, the much more interesting development from that period was this strange interaction between Bunting and NHL linesman Dan Kelly. Check out Kelly absolutely manhandling Bunting which escorting him off the ice:

That's.... that's pretty aggressive there, bud. Maybe tone it down a notch? No one is here to pick a fight with you.

Honestly though, I've reffed many games in my life where I absolutely wanted to push guys around like this, but you simply can't do it. As a ref (or linesman), it's your job to swallow up any feelings you may have for the benefit of the game. It doesn't matter some guy out there is a pain in the ass, you have to keep things professional. As appealing as it is to put a guy in his place... well... it's not the time or the place. No clue what Kelly was thinking during this interaction. Kudos to Bunting though for playing it off well.