Tom Sestito picks up 27 penalty minutes in one-second night
Things you can do in a second: Blink several times; score a buzzer-beater; "like" a Facebook post; or, in the case of Tom Sestito of the Vancouver Canucks, accumulate 27 penalty minutes in one second, a.k.a. your total ice time for the night.
The Canucks visited the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in a gloriously contentious game between two teams that don’t like each other. Overall, the teams combined for 110 penalty minutes in the Kings’ 1-0 win.
Two minutes and 32 seconds into the game, Sestito hit the ice for the first time, looking to stick up for teammate Henrik Sedin after Sedin was hit hard by Jordan Nolan of the Kings. Sestito lined up next to Nolan for the faceoff, and dropped his gloves when the puck was dropped by the linesman.
He pounded on Nolan … who didn’t fight back, acutely aware that Sestito’s night would be over if he just took the punches. And it was: Sestito earned a 5-minute fighting major, a 2-minute penalty for instigating the fight, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.
The time of the penalties: 2:33 of the first period. His night lasted one second, in which he earned 27 penalty minutes:
Sestito had 103 penalty minutes in 43 games heading into Monday night’s affair, and averages 6:11 of ice time per game. Which is, like, 6 minutes and 10 seconds longer than he actually needs to make an impact, apparently.
As Wyatt Arndt of The Province wrote:
“Alas, poor 6-3 Jordan Nolan wasn’t feeling up to the task, so he refused to drop his gloves. On one hand, good job on Nolan for drawing the penalties. On the other hand, his likability rating drops into the minuses for refusing to own up to his hit.”
Here’s the incident:
Perhaps the craziest part about this? The Kings were given a seven-minute power play yet couldn’t score a goal against the shorthanded Canucks. Which means Tom Sestito was probably breathing a little easier in the locker room. Then again, he should have been breathing fine anyway. Dude played one second.
- - - - - - -
is the editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!