The NHL announced today that Flyers’ defensemen Radko Gudas has been suspended two games for high-sticking Nikita Kucherov in last night’s contest versus the Lightning.
Philadelphia’s Radko Gudas has been suspended for two games for High-sticking Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. https://t.co/4Y7iLoWauk
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) February 20, 2019
Here’s the Gudas hi-stick pic.twitter.com/lGbR9ET8Zb
— Dave Isaac (@davegisaac) February 20, 2019
Call it high-sticking, slashing, or just incredibly irresponsible, the end result is ugly. In the words of Mike Leggo, you can’t do that. Gudas is a repeat offender, which comes into play when determining the length of a suspension, and quite honestly he could’ve been hit with a much longer suspension than he did. He’s lucky that he’ll only be missing two, even if the two games are massive.
The Flyers will be without Gudas on Thursday when they face the Montreal Canadiens, who are eight points ahead of the Flyers and currently holding the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and again on Saturday when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins outdoors. The Penguins sit third in the Metropolitan Division, and own the exact same record that the Canadiens do. Two massive games for the playoff believers, and the Flyers will be without their most consistent defenseman this season for both of them.
In related news, defenseman Robert Hagg has been fined $3,091.40 for an incident that also occurred in last night’s game.
Philadelphia’s Robert Hagg has been fined $3,091.40, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for Interference on Tampa Bay’s Cedric Paquette.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) February 20, 2019
Hagg hits Paquette up high with the puck nowhere near. pic.twitter.com/Iua84k2Yyo
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) February 20, 2019
This is the first time that Hagg has received supplemental discipline at the NHL level, and it’s certainly warranted. There is no reason to initiate contact with Cedric Paquette here, and he makes contact with his head. Both of these plays served no purpose and were, quite frankly, dumb.
