Dallas Stars left wing Ryan Garbutt has been suspended by the NHL for two games for kneeing Edmonton Oilers star forward Taylor Hall, in the Oilers 3-2 loss to the Stars last night.
Hall received a pass from Oilers defenseman Martin Maricin and started to move up in the neutral zone. Once Hall got to centre ice, he took a sharp right turn and met Garbutt, who then greeted him with a knee on knee hit. Hall went down immediately, but was able to get up and skate around on his own. A scrum at the Stars bench ensued after the hit, with Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins getting into it with Garbutt, Trevor Daley, and Jason Demers. Garbutt received a two minute minor for tripping, giving the Oilers a power play. Hall remained in the game.
Hall had recently returned from a nasty knee sprain, suffered on November 1st, but returned earlier than expected. After the game, Hall commented on the hit saying two minutes was definitely not enough, also saying the referees should have put on more minutes.
This is not Garbutt’s first time being reviewed by the NHL Department of Player Safety, and has a reputation for dishing out dirty hits while also being a secondary scorer. He was suspended five games in October 2013 for charging Dustin Penner maliciously. He was also fined 1,476 dollars for spearing Corey Perry in April 2014.
Hall has said his knee is fine, despite spraining it not even a month ago. He has 8 goals and 13 points in 16 games played with the Oilers so far, and Garbutt has 3 goals and 8 points in 19 games with the Stars.
Hall scored a third period goal to try and get the Oilers back in, but couldn’t get any more momentum going.
Is Garbutt’s suspension long enough? Considering that he is a repeat offender, and already has a five game suspension under his belt, two games doesn’t seem enough, especially with a dirty hit as knee on knee.
Adam Lowry, defenseman for the Winnipeg Jets, has also been suspended one game for boarding Buffalo Sabres right wing Patrick Kaleta.
Kaleta went to grab the puck behind the Sabres net, when Lowry came up from behind and smashed him into the boards. A huge scrum around Lowry began seconds after the hit.
Lowry was given a five minute major and a game misconduct. Kaleta cut his mouth on the hit, but returned for the third period.
In the first period of the game, Kaleta was assessed a two minute minor for roughing on Lowry. This was Kaleta’s second game of the season.
Lowry will be eligible to return next Wednesday when the Jets play the Oilers, while Garbutt will be returning on Tuesday December 2nd, when the Stars go to Toronto.
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