Kaiden Guhle will not play on Saturday. The Canadiens defender was suspended for one game by the Department of Player Safety on Friday.
Guhle is guilty of darting Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny from the bench.
The incident occurred at the end of the second period on Thursday. His gesture led to a scuffle before the teams retreated to the locker room for the intermission. In its explanatory video, the Department of Player Safety reminds that it is prohibited for players on the bench to come into contact with players on the ice, particularly in cases (like in this one) where the player n is not projected on the bench. The analysis also notes that Guhle’s hit came in response to contact between Konecny and Juraj Slafkovsky.
In the visitors’ locker room after the match, no one named CH number 21, but the condemnations were unanimous. “I think the league is going to look at some things that the refs said they didn’t see. Light will be shed on the events,” first launched the always intense Garnet Hathaway. “It was a pretty dirty game,” added Morgan Frost. His colleague Scott Laughton used the same terms, adding that a player who commits such an act “should be sent off”.
Curiously, the fiery head coach of the Flyers, John Tortorella, refused to comment on the incident.
Guhle has never been suspended or fined since the start of his career, which was noted by the NHL in the video, and which is still part of the criteria when it comes to imposing a sanction.
Guhle will therefore be eligible to return to play Tuesday, against the Panthers.