Less than a minute into the second with the game tied at zero, Connor was cutting to the middle of the ice and released a backhand towards the Ducks goal, which was stopped by Gibson. In the process of releasing the shot, Connor was hit by Ducks forward Ryan Strome in what should have been a routine check. The problem was that the hit was a knee-on-knee as Strome stuck out his knee to make contact with Connor and it sent him twisting through the air.
Following the hit, Connor remained down on the ice and Jets forward Mark Scheifele jumped in to defend his teammate, dropping the gloves with Strome. Strome was given a 5-minute major and game misconduct for the hit as well as a major for fighting.
Connor did not return, and following the game, Jets head coach Rick Bowness clearly wasn't pleased. He had this to say:
As of this morning, the NHL Department of Player Safety has yet to make an announcement on whether or not Strome will have a hearing for his hit. Given the apparent severity of Connor's injury, however, it would not be surprising to see Strome suspended for a couple of games.
POLL | ||
11 DECEMBRE | 469 ANSWERS MUST WATCH! One of the NHL's top goal scorers taken out with dirty, illegal hit How many games will Strome get for taking out Kyle Connor with a dirty knee-on-knee hit? | ||
1-2 | 138 | 29.4 % |
3-4 | 182 | 38.8 % |
5+ | 149 | 31.8 % |
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