NHL Department of Player Safety Officially Rules on Matthew Tkachuk's Ejection Hit
Photo credit: The Score
The NHL Department of Player Safety has officially come out with their ruling on Matthew Tkachuk's punishment for his late hit against Jake Guentzel.
Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk has learned his fate after being assessed a 5-minute major penalty for his late hit against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel in Game 3 of their Round 1 series.
Per NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman, Tkachuk will face zero discipline from the NHL Department of Player Safety and is fully eligible to participate in Game 4.
There will be no hearing/supplemental discipline for Matthew Tkachuk
Reasoning as I understand it:
*Force of hit not considered at level of Hagel/Barkov
*No head contact
*Guentzel touched puck
Reasoning as I understand it:
*Force of hit not considered at level of Hagel/Barkov
*No head contact
*Guentzel touched puck
Tkachuk leveled Guentzel in the 3rd period of Saturday's Game 3 of their opening round series with a late hit; Guentzel had just fed teammate Anthony Cirelli, who was making a beeline toward Florida's open net and would score to put the game out of reach.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper mocked Panthers coach Paul Maurice with his reaction to the hit
Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who is the longest tenured bench boss in the NHL today, took a swipe at Panthers coach Paul Maurice with his reaction to Tkachuk's hit on Guentzel.
Cooper used Maurice's own words against him when talking about the incident:
The only players we hit are the ones with pucks.
It was the same comment that Maurice made when talking about Tampa's Brandon Hagel leveling Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, which resulted in a 1-game suspension for Hagel.
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AVRIL 27 | 650 ANSWERS NHL Department of Player Safety Officially Rules on Matthew Tkachuk's Ejection Hit Did the NHL make the right call with Matthew Tkachuk? | ||
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