In the final few minutes of what would be the Calgary Flames’ 4–2 loss at the hands of the Seattle Kraken, Martin Pospisil took his man Vince Dunn into the boards from behind. While there was no doubt about it being a charging call, Pospisil did push him from behind and he landed face-first into the boards. On the play, Pospisil was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and given a match penalty. He then received a call from the Department of Player Safety (DoPS) to answer for the hit. Take a look at it here:
Pospisil suspended three games
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced today that Pospisil has been suspended three games for boarding.
DoPS described the incident as boarding in their description, and note specifically that when Pospisil went in for the hit, he only saw Dunn’s back. While Dunn did turn a little at the point of contact, the point of major contact was the back. The onus is on the hitting player to change his angle in these cases to minimize the impact, which Pospisil clearly did not. Given this was clearly boarding and that Dunn was injured on the play, the suspension was given.
This could have been much worse for Pospisil, but given he has no history of fines or suspensions in his career, it was just three games.
As a result of this suspension, he will miss the Flames’ next three games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes. He will be eligible to return to the lineup on Tuesday, March 12 when the Flames take on the Colorado Avalanche back at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
In his absence, expect rookie Matt Coronato to get a look. He was called up earlier in the week when the Flames announced that Connor Zary would be sidelined. There is also a chance that the Flames call up Adam Klapka from the Calgary Wranglers, who has been on an absolute tear of late.
Pospisil does have the right to appeal the infraction, but given it is fewer than six games, the appeal is to Commissioner Gary Bettman, not to an independent arbiter.
This should serve as a lesson to the rookie that playing in the grey area of the game is one thing, but crossing the line has serious consequences. The Flames are better with him in the lineup, and hopefully he’s fired up when his suspension is over.
Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire
