Florida Panthers ahead Matthew Tkachuk has reportedly prevented supplemental self-discipline for a late hit on Tampa Bay Lightning ahead Jake Guentzel throughout Sport 3 of their sequence on Saturday afternoon.
Tkachuk was given a five-minute main for interference on the play, however prevented a disciplinary listening to that would have resulted in a suspension for Sport 4 of the sequence on Monday evening.
That’s going to be a controversial ruling as a result of the NHL beforehand suspended Lightning ahead Brandon Hagel for Sport 3 of the sequence after he, too, was assessed a five-minute main penalty for interference on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov late in Sport 2.
That might appear to have set a regular and precedent for the sequence on what the NHL goes to be on the lookout for and punishing.
However that’s not in any respect the case.
The argument from the NHL’s facet is that Hagel’s hit was extra violent and included contact to Barkov’s head, whereas Barkov by no means had possession of the puck previous to being hit by Hagel.
Within the case of the Tkachuk-Guentzel play, Guentzel simply had possession of the puck, whereas there wasn’t any contact with the top on Tkachuk’s half.
The argument, nonetheless, does not likely make a lot sense. The difficulty with each hits was not essentially any incidental head contact that will have occurred (although it was vital with Hagel and Barkov), however the lateness of them.
The argument about Guentzel having beforehand touched the puck is, fairly frankly, nonsensical.
He did contact the puck, sure. After which he removed it lengthy earlier than he was hit. Which means he was not in possession of it, and not eligible to be hit.
This was not an instance of a participant “ending their test.”
If a defending participant provoke a physique test, after which the puck service removes the puck both by move or shot, that defender is allowed to finish the method of the test they already initiated. That’s not what occurred right here. Guentzel handed the puck to a teammate, and solely then did Tkachuk exit of his technique to change instructions and ship a crushing open-ice hit on an unsuspecting and defenseless participant.
That could be a drawback.
Though there was no contact from Tkachuk to Guentzel’s head, Guentzel’s head nonetheless practically hit the ice on account of the hit which may have had much more damaging outcomes.
There may be additionally the timing and context of the play.
This was not some random open-ice hit in the midst of the sport.
The Lightning had taken full management of the sport and have been about to attain into an empty internet with 5 minutes to play in regulation. Tkachuk knew that the play was going to be a objective. He knew the sport was over. And he knew precisely what he was doing. He noticed a possibility to ship a blindside hit on an opponent to attempt to ship a message. He took it. That needs to be the kind of factor the NHL is trying to get rid of whether it is critical about participant security, as a result of it’s not throughout the context of the sport or making an attempt to forestall a objective. It’s nearly inflicting ache.
The dearth of a suspension might be going to make Tkachuk a serious goal going into Sport 4, which may take an already bodily and intense sequence as much as one other degree. Perhaps that’s what the NHL desires.
