Pavel Buchnevich will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for cross checking Washington’s Anthony Mantha on Wednesday night, in a game that featured six fights in the opening five minutes of play.
Buchnevich, who was hit repeatedly on the back of the head by Tom Wilson when the two teams played on Monday night, left his skates before delivering a hit to Mantha’s face on Wednesday. He received a major penalty and a game misconduct.
Much of the animosity and physicality displayed on Wednesday was directly linked to Wilson being fined, not suspended, by the Department of Player Safety despite multiple past offenses, including a seven-game ban earlier this year for hospitalizing Boston’s Brandon Carlo, and a 20-game suspension in 2018 for a hit delivered in a preseason game.
Wilson also grabbed the hair of New York’s Artemi Panarin and slammed him to the ice after hitting Buchnevich, resulting in a lower body injury for Panarin that caused him to be ruled out for the final three games of the season, but Wilson received no discipline for that hit.
After the Rangers expressed their frustration to reporters and in a statement that called for Wilson to be suspended indefinitely and questioned Department of Player Safety head George Parros’ ability to do his job, the team vented its anger on the ice, dropping the gloves on the opening faceoff to trigger three fights at once. Seconds after order was restored, Brendan Smith went right after Wilson just seconds after Wilson took the ice for the first time.
New York lost the game 4-2, its first game after firing team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton.
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