Player Safety shows its anti-Leafs bias once again, following an incident where Michael Bunting was cross-checked in the face
Once again, NHL Player Safety has shown that there is a double standard when it comes to the Leafs. Last season, Auston Matthews was suspended 2 games for cross-checking Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin in retaliation for Dahlin shoving him into the crossbar. The cross-check was into Dahlin's shoulder and road up his shoulder pad into his neck. Matthews had zero history of any supplemental discipline at the time and was still given 2 games instead of the usual fine that had occurred for the previous 15 or so similar cross-checking incidents prior to his.
Saturday night, Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton cross-checked Michael Bunting directly in the face during a scrum in front of the Bruins net. It was as deliberate a cross-check as they come and there was no intent of aiming for Bunting's chest at all. It was straight to his throat/jaw. Thankfully, Bunting was alright and didn't need any repairs after, but Clifton wasn't even assessed a penalty on the play.
The NHL's Player Safety department was busy on Sunday too as they handed out 2-game suspensions to Montreal's josh Anderson for boarding Alex Pietrangelo and 2-games to Matthew Tkachuk for intentionally high-sticking Jonathan Quick. I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that because a former Hab runs the department, there's more leniency towards punishable offenses when it happens against the Leafs.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 7 | 1038 ANSWERS Player Safety shows its anti-Leafs bias once again, following an incident where Michael Bunting was cross-checked in the face Should Clifton have been given the same supplemental discipline as Matthews for his cross check on Bunting? | ||
| Yes | 783 | 75.4 % |
| No | 67 | 6.5 % |
| Easily the most inconsistent league in pro sports | 188 | 18.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
