Brad Marchand earns supplemental discipline for his two-handed slash on Canes goaltender

On Thursday, we got our answer. The NHL's Department of Player Safety announced on Thursday afternoon that Marchand's actions earned him a $5,000 fine. This is obviously confusing and showcases, yet gain, just how wildly inconsistent Player Safety is. Just a few months back, in February, Marchand was issued a 6-game suspension that was split into three parts; 2 games for a punch to the mask of Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry, 2 games for a high-stick on Jarry and an additional 2 games for his history of suspensions.

This particular incident was a much more forceful, two-handed chop, which should have warranted at least 1 game, if you consider that the league perceives playoff games as the equivalent of two regular season games. If you compare the two videos below, the two-handed chop on Kochetkov was much more violent of a swing than his tap on Jarry back in February, for which Marchand was slapped with a suspension.

Nevertheless, Marchand appears to have gotten away with one and will be eligible to play the next Bruins/Canes game on Friday night. The Bruins will host the Canes on Friday and Sunday and will need to win one of those games to stay alive in the postseason. Down 2-0 to the Canes, the Bruins are in jeopardy of suffering a clean sweep.