A pair of cross-checks have landed Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers in hot water with the National Hockey League.
What led to the incidents that landed both match penalties — and subsequent automatic hearings with the NHL — happened in the final seconds of Saturday’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.
The Oilers were down by a goal late in the third period, when McDavid was hauled down to the ice by Canucks winger Conor Garland, who wrestled with the Oilers superstar, essentially pinning him to the ice. Referees Wes McCauley and Chris Lee didn’t blow their whistle to call a penalty or break them up, and once McDavid got to his feet, he skated towards Garland delivering a vicious cross-check to the side of his head.
A crowd immediately gathered, but off to the side, Myers had just finished a hit on Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard. Myers turned around, slashing at Bouchard’s hands, as the latter skated towards the former. Then, in what may have been a more unprompted response, Myers cross-checked Bouchard in the face.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said what McDavid did came in a moment of frustration.
“There’s a rivalry and Connor gets frustrated, Connor gets his stick up, and he’s frustrated because we’re down one goal, and the best player in the league is getting held for 15 seconds,” said Knoblauch. “There’s frustration that’s allowed to happen, and his stick got up.”
McDavid’s teammate Leon Draisaitl, who was on the ice at the time of the cross-checks, downplayed what happened between the two teams.
“It’s hockey, it happens,” he said. “It’s intense. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.
“Obviously couldn’t get (a goal), and then a little bit of fisticuffs. Nothing major.”
The referees, mind you, didn’t think it was anything small.
Both McDavid and Myers received match penalties ending their nights seconds early, which come with the automatic hearing. Myers and Bouchard received minor penalties for slashing, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins received two minor penalties for roughing. The rest of the bunch — Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm, Derek Forbort, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Garland — all received singular minor penalties for roughing.
It’s not the first time cross-checks have been laid involving McDavid and Vancouver. Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy was suspended one game in the playoffs last year after he laid a cross-check to McDavid’s face.
