Kirby Dach and several Canadiens teammates got an unexpected surprise on Martin St-Louis' bench Saturday night when a giant inflatable hot dog bun came flying toward them.
During Montreal's matchup against the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre, a fan participation game took a hilarious turn when oversized inflatable food ended up where it absolutely wasn't supposed to.
The Canadiens had introduced an entertainment challenge involving a giant inflatable hot dog and a separate bun, with fans supposed to bring the two pieces together in the stands.
Instead, the crowd sent the enormous inflatables toward the playing surface, turning a harmless commercial-break activity into one of the strangest scenes of the young NHL season.
The bun came directly toward Montreal's bench, where Dach, Juraj Slafkovsky, Zachary Bolduc and Alex Newhook were caught watching the massive object descend toward them.
Sportsnet footage showed the inflatable dropping over the players' heads, forcing some to duck and move out of its path as it reached the bench area.
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The absurd sequence didn't stop with the bun. The giant inflatable hot dog also ended up on the ice, leaving the Bell Centre with an entirely different kind of stoppage.
The footage shows the oversized bun floating down toward the Canadiens' bench as players turn their heads and duck beneath it.
The promotional game was supposed to bring the arena together. Fans had 30 seconds to connect the inflatable sausage and bun, with free hot dog coupons available if they succeeded.
Instead, the inflatables became flying obstacles, and the Canadiens players found themselves dealing with something no practice drill could prepare them for.
Fortunately, there were no reported injuries from the incident, though the scene raised an obvious question about whether Montreal will reconsider how it runs the promotion.
For a franchise whose Bell Centre hot dogs are already a recognizable part of its hockey culture, the incident delivered an entirely new chapter.
And while St-Louis had a hockey game to manage against Detroit, his players briefly had a much stranger assignment: avoiding a giant hot dog bun coming straight at their bench.
Should the Canadiens bring back the giant inflatable hot dog challenge after this incident?
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