The NHL has suspended Buffalo Sabres forward Brad Boyes for two pre-season games from a check to the head delivered in Saturday nights’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The thrilling game between the Sabres and Toronto had built up some steam from the previous night where Clarke MacArthur and Patrick Kaleta were given 10 minute misconducts in the last minute of the Sabres’ 2-1 victory.
Colby Armstrong started Saturday night off with a hit from behind on Paul Gaustad, called for charging. Drew Stafford put home the powerplay goal to open up the scoring on the ensuing powerplay. The discipline errors on the side of the Leafs would cost them as Christian Ehrhoff and youngster Luke Adam would fire home the next two goals for the Sabres, both on the powerplay. The Sabres would go on to win their second straight game against the Maple Leafs, once again a one goal margin of 3-2. Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski was arguably the player of the night – doing everything he could to catch his team up. Grabovski netted Toronto’s only two goals, the second as he dove through the air and batted the puck in for an impressive goal. The Sabres out-shot the Maple Leafs by a large margin of 37-21.
The hit was an illegal check to the head under the new provisions set by senior VP of player safety and discipline, Brendan Shanahan. The shot to the head occurred at 1:46 of the first period on Toronto’s young prospect Joe Colborne. Fortunately Colborne wasn’t injured on the play.
Shanahan once again released a video describing the play, the circumstances, and the punishment. The PR and transparency by Shanahan and company has been excellent, as the NHL await a decision on James Wisniewski and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblonds’ respective suspensions set for release Monday.
Boyes will obviously not sit for a single regular season game for this hit. In agreeance with Shanahan, the hit did not look intentional, and would be an odd choice for a player such as Brad Boyes. A precedent does need to be set for these hits to the head, and with Wisniewski’s impending suspension looming, it will be known what it is soon.
The NHL must remain serious about eliminating these hits – lets’ just hope they keep up the good work.
Boyes was traded to the Sabres from the St. Louis Blues in February. In 21 games last season with the Sabres he collected 5 goals and 14 points with just 6 penalty minutes.
He will be able to return to the Buffalo lineup on October 4th in a pre-season game against German club, Adler Mannheim.
- Kendall Grubbs
Image by Getty, video by NHL.com
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