Player Safety appears to have made a decision on Auston Matthews' illegal check to the head of Casey Mittelstadt
During last night's game between the Leafs and the Sabres, Auston Matthews found himself in a precarious position after cutting to the middle of the ice to engage Casey Mittelstadt, the puck-carrier for the Sabres. Matthews was coming in hot and while his focus appeared to be on trying to bat the puck off of Mittelstadt's stick, he did drop his shoulder and end up catching Mittelstadt in the head. The replay can be seen below.
The play sent Twitter into a bit of a frenzy and many had speculated that it was not a matter of if Matthews would be suspended, but how many games he would be suspended for. Well, it would appear as though the NHL's Department of Player Safety has made its decision.
No news is good news for Auston Matthews, as Player Safety has not offered Matthews a hearing for the play, despite the fact that the call on the ice was a 4-minute misconduct for an illegal check to the head.
Matthews was suspended two games last year after jousting with Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and crosschecking the young defenseman in the neck during the Heritage Classic game in Hamilton, ON.
The play on Saturday night was different in that the hit itself didn't appear to be Matthews' intent, as he seemed more focused on swatting backward at the puck, rather than committing to the hit. There's no question that there was some head contact, but Player Safety must have reviewed the play and determined that the head wasn't the main point of contact and was more incidental than anything else.
Good news for Matthews and the Leafs here.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 20 | 1662 ANSWERS Player Safety appears to have made a decision on Auston Matthews' illegal check to the head of Casey Mittelstadt Did Matthews deserve a suspension for the hit on Mittelstadt? | ||
| No | 1319 | 79.4 % |
| Yes | 280 | 16.8 % |
| Hard to say | 63 | 3.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
