"We were informed that Danny Briere was suspended two games by the NHL for his hit last night on Scott Hannan. It’s obviously disappointing to not have Danny in the lineup for the next few games, but it’s a decision that the league has come down with and we’ll live with it. We look forward to having Danny back in the lineup in two games."
>> Paul Holmgren, courtesy of the Flyers website
The hit on Hannan came immediately after his goal in the second period. It put Colorado up 4-2 at the time, and it was clearly a late hit. The puck was in the net and Hannan was celebrating with his head turned in the opposite direction of Briere. Briere jumped and put his shoulder into Hannan's chest. The goal scorer fell to the ice before getting up to respond to Briere. A minor scrum followed, but no penalties were given out.
Hannan didn't return to the game and may be out of the lineup a bit.
It's probably the right call. Briere was obviously frustrated after the goal, but to hit an unaware Hannan like that is worthy of suspension. The only question I'd have is that, if Hannan was fine and completed the rest of the game, the issue probably would have never been brought to the attention of the league. Instead, he was injured, so Briere will sit Wednesday night in New York and Friday at home against Buffalo.
Obviously, this hurts the Flyers quite a bit, given that they're already severely banged up among the forward ranks. We could see Riley Cote, David Laliberte, Jared Ross, and Andreas Nodl all in the lineup tomorrow night.
After the jump, video of the incident.
Here's the video, courtesy of NHL.com.