Goalie Stuart Skinner (74), Leon Draisaitl (29) and Darnell Nurse (25) of the Edmonton Oilers, keep Trevor Moore of the Los Angles Kings away from the loose puck at Rogers Place in Edmonton on March 30.
The high-scoring Oilers have flipped the switch to playoff-style tight defensive hockey, allowing a total of two goals in their past four games. PHOTO BY Shannon BUTTS /Post Media Article content
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Some bad news for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday morning when the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced a one-game suspension of defenceman Darnell Nurse
Nurse was assessed an instigating penalty and the automatic misconduct that comes with it when he was deemed to have initiated a fight with Las Vegas defenceman Nicolas Hague in the 60th minute of Wednesday night’s 4-1 win over the Golden Knights.
But because the instigating call occurred within the final five minutes of play, it carries an automatic one-game suspension as per Section 46.21 of the NHL rule book.
There was some thought the league might rescind the penalty as they have been known to do, especially given that the two players — who have had a running feud all series — had reportedly (according to Mark Stone) been discussing a scrap at the previous faceoff.
But when it actually took place, Hague was engaged with Edmonton’s Warren Foegele when Nurse came all the way below the icing line to become involved in what became a humdinger of a fight.
Both players appeared to drop the gloves simultaneously and Hague actually landed the first several punches before Nurse came back with a fierce counter attack. He left the ice surface laughing and blowing kisses at his opponent.
But it turned out to be no laughing matter. Nurse had committed an infraction along the way that will cost his team the services of their perennial time-on-ice leader next game. No appeal, because it has already been reviewed.
In the meantime, the Golden Knights’ own ice-time leader Alex Pietrangelo is on the docket for his vicious slash of Leon Draisaitl seconds earlier.
Pietrangelo is receiving a hearing from DoPS for that incident, a process that takes a little time so no word as yet.
But the mere fact that a hearing was announced as opposed to the usual “5,000 fine, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement” is strongly suggestive that he too is apt to receive at least a one-game ban.
Clear-eyed observers of the two infractions would surely conclude Pietrangelo’s was by far the more egregious, but the fact is there is no “automatic suspension” element to his actions, unlike those of Nurse.
Opinions are currently split as to whether the Vegas captain will get two games to Nurse’s one, or if DoPS will simply balance the scales at one game apiece.
Meanwhile, pessimists in these parts are suggesting no suspension for A.P. and perhaps a third-round pick be transferred from Edmonton to Calgary to resolve the matter. (Note: that’s an internet meme, not a serious comment.)
We’ll have more on the Pietrangelo situation when the league makes an actual announcement, presumably later today.
As for Nurse, this makes two seasons in a row he’s been suspended for a critically-important playoff game for an unnecessary infraction.
One year ago to the day he was suspended for a potential elimination game at Los Angeles for a head-butt on Kings’ forward Philip Danault. Now he’s sitting out again for an admittedly borderline infraction, but one which has been in the NHL rule books for years.
Indeed it should be known to the player since his minor hockey days where similar sanctions have also long been in place. Stir things up late in a game, there are consequences.
This observer admires Nurse as a team-first player, but he won’t be of much use to his team from the pressbox at T-Mobile Arena Friday night.
What will the Oilers do in his absence? Likely something similar to their approach in that massive game at Los Angeles last May, when Brett Kulak was promoted from the third pairing to fill Nurse’s spot alongside Cody Ceci (where he was excellent), while the coaches scrambling to fill the third pairing with replacements Kris Russell and Philip Broberg.
Russell is no longer part of the picture, so the onus will fall on young Broberg to play a (semi-)regular shift on the third pairing, most likely with Vincent Desharnais.
Surely the pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard will take on additional minutes as will Kulak. Not impossible that the coaches will leave Kulak and Desharnais together, put Broberg with Ceci, and go with a top 2/bottom 4 set-up.
Speaking of coaches, Jay Woodcroft is on the hook for an automatic $10,000 fine that is tied to the late-instigator rule, presumably meant to deter bench bosses from pursuing late-game acts of aggression, historically using end-of-the-bench players.
Darnell Nurse of course is anything but that, but he was out there and in the eyes of the league he was the aggressor. And unlike most suspensions which are lessened in the playoffs, this one is in the rule book as a one-game ban, period.
