Oilers’ Jake Walman fined $10k for roughing Tkachuk, spraying water at Panthers’ bench

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced two separate $5,000 fines that Walman received. The first was for roughing Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk with just over five minutes left in the third period.

Tkachuk had already been engaged with Oilers defenceman John Klingberg by the Edmonton net, and Walman was a second man in, delivering a few punches to the Panthers winger. Walman was assessed a double-minor penalty for roughing and a third minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The second fine came due to Walman spraying water from the Oilers bench onto the Panthers bench. Panthers winger A.J. Greer had taken a glove from Walman and threw it into his team’s bench, leading to Walman spraying the water.

The Panthers would go on to win the game 6-1 amid a penalty-filled three periods. 140 penalty minutes would be called throughout the game, including 75 on the Oilers and 47 on the Panthers in the third period alone. Much of it came in the form of extra circulars.

After the game, Walman spoke about the intensity seen on the ice between the two sides.

“It’s for the Stanley Cup, you know?” he said. “There’s not an inch out there. Everybody is doing everything they can and it’s a grown man’s game out there. It’s not for the faint of heart. Guys are putting everything on the line, you know?”

Both the Oilers and Panthers have a few days to let cooler heads prevail, with Game 4 between the two set for Thursday night. That game starts at 6:00 PM MT.