As expected, some additional punishment has come from last night’s battle of Florida between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that it has fined Anton Lundell $5,000 for high-sticking Jake Guentzel and Scott Sabourin $2,018.23 for slashing Niko Mikkola (X Link). Each punishment was the maximum allowable under the current CBA.
Interestingly enough, Sabourin was the only one of the two to earn a penalty on the play in question. The game ended with a combined 136 PIMs and 15 power plays. Sabourin accounted for 26 of those penalty minutes due to the slashing penalty, a roughing penalty, and a game misconduct.
Aside from last night’s fireworks, the Lightning had another game today as they matched up against the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately, Sabourin will not finish the game, as Tampa Bay announced that he has exited the contest with an undisclosed injury.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Despite General Manager Brad Treliving recently giving head coach Craig Berube a vote of confidence for the second half of the season, there has been plenty of speculation regarding his future tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Much of that speculation has been driven by the availability of Pete DeBoer, who recently coached the Dallas Stars to three consecutive Western Conference Finals. Although some in Toronto may be wishing for DeBoer, he doesn’t appear to want the job. In a recent article from Nick Barden of The Hockey News, it was highlighted that DeBoer sent a text to Berube recently, indicating that he wasn’t involved in any of the speculation.
- Back in Tampa Bay, the team has again placed veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the injured reserve after reaggravating the injury that has plagued him throughout much of the season. Unfortunately, there’s no indication he’ll return anytime soon. Earlier today, team reporter Gabby Shirley shared that McDonagh is “a little bit more than ‘day to day'”. The vagueness of the report suggests that the Lightning may still be evaluating McDonagh for a clearer picture of his recovery timeline.
Brad Treliving is going to ensure several more years of Leaf futility with his timidity.
Toronto is where coaching careers go to die.
And speaking of the Atlantic division, I noticed that Montreal’s Jake Evans has 5 goals, And he owns Montreal’s worst plus, Minus rating, But he’s 5th in ice time, It seems confusing when we are constantly told that ice time is earned. It’s also quite a list of talented players who are getting less ice time than Evans. Perhaps, Evans is St. Louis pet player.
@DogHockeyIsAKaren — Rumor has it that Evans had written “I ❤️ My Coach” and “XOXO” on his eyelids, ala the young female student (Shirley) in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Regarding his +/-, though, since 18 teams are underwater in goal differential, many players’ ratings are suffering. But, if you look at his FO%, he’s the best on the team, for guys taking the most draws. The time to get worried, though, is if Marty says, “Jake! Fetch the scouting report, boy, fetch the report!”
What a job Marty has done.