Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk suspended two games for high-sticking

The NHL announced Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk has been suspended two games for his high-sticking play on Jonathan Quick. The incident occurred during the Saturday evening matchup which resulted in a 5-4 victory for the Los Angeles Kings.

The play happened when there was less than a minute remaining in the game. With the Panthers’ net empty and the pressure mounting, a shot ca,e in from the point that Jonathan Quick initially saved. About 2-3 seconds after the Quick had covered the puck, Tkachuk placed his stick near the shoulder of the Kings netminder.

The Panthers forward who has a reputation for being a net-front presence decided to push his stick into the goalie’s mask. Normally, the mask offers sufficient protection from a player’s stick or a puck coming at the goalie at high speed. This time, whether intentional or not, Tkachuk’s stick entered the gaps between the bars in Quick’s helmet and looked like it made contact with the goalie’s face dangerously close to his left eye.

It is without a shadow of a doubt that the initial high-stick was an intentional play by Tkachuk. However, it is unclear whether he intended to injure the goalie’s eye or just tap him on the helmet in a relatively safe way.

Tkachuk has stated that he wasn’t intentionally aiming for Quick’s face in an attempt to injure him. However, he was using his stick to purposefully hit an opponent on the head, well after the play was called.

This will be the third suspension of Matthew Tkachuk’s career and the only reason his play wasn’t met with more strictness from the NHL is that he didn’t hit Jonathan Quick with an abundance of force.

The Kings ended up winning the game by a score of 5-4 and Jonathan Quick appears to be uninjured following the play.