There’s some bad blood brewing between the Canucks and Devils tonight. Before Philip Larsen got knocked out cold and had to be stretchered off the ice in the second period, the Devils were hot under the collar about a missed call on their end.
A bloodied Devils player got shoved into the boards and his team ended up with two penalties for it
And of course Vancouver scored on the ensuing power play!
First, the hit. Late in the first period of a 1-0 New Jersey game, Zajac was pushed into the boards by Canucks forward Michael Chaput.
The hit from Chaput isn’t so much dirty as it is reckless and deserving of a minor cross-checking penalty. Zajac ended up smacking his face into the boards, causing his visor to cut into his nose and bleed pretty badly on the ice.
After play stopped so trainers could attend to Zajac, John Moore went after Chaput to answer for the hit. Though he tried to stand up for his teammate, Moore actually got a minor penalty for instigating, along with five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
Then, Devils’ head coach John Hynes asked for an explanation from the referees as to the lack of a minor on Chaput, and New Jersey got a bench minor out of it. There’s no video of what was said, but Devils’ forward Taylor Hall heard the conversation and didn’t believe it warranted a penalty.
Here’s how the penalties broke down on NHL.com, though there’s no mention of the bench minor on Hynes.
Out of all of that, the Devils had to kill a 5-on-3 Canucks power play. Which, of course, Vancouver scored on with less than 20 second remaining in the kill.
Zajac returned to the ice in the second period wearing a full face shield. It was later revealed Zajac broke his nose on the play.
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