Insane chain-reaction hit in KHL sees player checked into bench send backup goaltender through the glass

"Literally a minute and a half before, I told the goalie on the bench, Zavragin, 'Take off your mask. This isn't junior hockey. You need to watch the game so they can see your face,' Larionov said to the channel and via a translation by Google Translate. 'And then, first a puck flew at him, and then a man! In the second period, I told him, 'Take off your mask again. People want to see you on TV.'"

"He said, 'Igor Nikolaevich, no. I was almost knocked out.' Moments like these happen, and they enhance the game. It will be on all the highlights of the day, it will be on Match TV. It's part of the game. We didn't want to offend anyone or play rough. It just so happened that the guy got knocked out. It happens. I'm glad the guy avoided injury and continued playing. But Zava said he won't take his mask off again, even on the bench."

SKA Saint Petersburg beat Dinamo Minsk 4-1 in a KHL game marked by a dramatic bench collision. Markus Phillips checked Vitaly Pinchuk, launching Pinchuk into SKA's bench and colliding with backup goaltender Yegor Zavragin, which sent Zavragin through the glass and into the tunnel. Igor Larionov recounted telling Zavragin to remove his mask on the bench and described the sequence of events, saying such moments enhance the game and expressing relief that the player avoided serious injury. SKA goals came from Brendan Leipsic, Matvei Polyakov, and Mikhail Vorobyov. Several players had previous ties to the Washington Capitals organization.

Read at RMNB