The Department of Player Safety decided that New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich will have to sit out, giving him a one-game suspension after his high stick on Washington Capitals forward Anthony Mantha. The incident occurred Wednesday night in the brawling rematch between the two clubs and earned Buchnevich a five-minute major and game misconduct. As the accompanying video explains:
It is important to note that while we agree that Buchnevich’s actions are defensive in nature, players are not excused from following league rules because of the actions of their opponent. While Mantha’s actions may have been provacative, Buchnevich is not permitted to respond to that provacation with a reckless and forceful strike directly to the face of an opponent.
As the league notes, Buchnevich has never been suspended or fined in his 300-game NHL career. Mantha also did not suffer a serious injury on the play. Both of those things factored in to the decision to hand out the one-game suspension.
The Rangers of course will not be happy with this decision given how publicly they called out DOPS head George Parros earlier this week for his decision to not suspend Washington forward Tom Wilson. The team called that a “horrifying act of violence” that went basically unpunished. (Wilson did receive a $5,000 fine for his punch on Buchnevich.) At his introductory press conference Thursday, new Rangers president and GM Chris Drury said he expected Buchnevich to be gone for the rest of the season. The Rangers have two games left, meaning he could actually play in the season finale against Boston on Saturday.
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