Lesson: keep your stick down. The NHL has suspended Shane O`Brien of the Nashville Predators for a stick incident in Thursday night's game against the Florida Panthers. In the waning moments of the first period, Stephen Weiss of the Panthers was encroaching upon the Predators crease.
Nashville’s Shane O’Brien SuspendedTwo Games For Stick Incident
O’Brien lifted his stick and came down on the face of Weiss before he pulled back again and took another jab at Weiss. The Panther went down to the ice, but no penalty was called. Here’s video:
As you can see, it should’ve been at least a four-minute double minor penalty for high sticking since Weiss was bloodied pretty badly. At least.
Reaction from our Predators blog, On the Forecheck:
In a move which surprised Nashville Predators fans, the NHL has suspended Preds defenseman Shane O'Brien two games (per Josh Cooper's tweet), apparently for a stick foul. Of course, these two upcoming games happen to be coming against the Chicago Blackhawks in a home-and-home weekend set. Outside of a pretty routine slashing call that O'Brien took early in the 2nd period of last night's 3-2 loss at Florida, there didn't seem to be an incident worthy of league review. If anything, it was one of the least physical games we've seen in recent weeks.
In defense of our friends in Nashville, once they got a look at the play, they agreed with the call. As mentioned there, O’Brien will miss a home-and-home series against the hated Chicago Blackhawks.
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