Anarchy broke out after the final buzzer in Game 3 of the Oilers vs. Canucks series on Sunday night when Connor McDavid ate a two-man cross check that caused him to collapse at the knees, before taking a second shot directly to the face.
It’s been purported that this was retaliation for a slash by McDavid late in the third period, but clearly the punishment doesn’t fit the crime in this case. It appears that Carson Soucy initially intended to hit McDavid in the chest, but when Nikita Zadorov came in to cross check him first it made the Oilers’ star fall forward, eating the second check to his face as a result.
Now it remains to be seen how the NHL will react. A shot like this, after the buzzer, to one of the sport’s biggest stars is sure to garner a reaction from the league office. TSN director of scouting Craig Button believes there needs to be a suspension on the play.
“It’s not a hockey play. It’s at the end of the game, and this is one where the department of player safety has to suspend Carson Soucy,” Button said. “If they don’t, it’s a failure of justice at implementing what is necessary in the game to make sure these types of plays don’t happen. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
McDavid has had an up-and-down series against Vancouver so far. In fact, it’s been an up-and-down playoffs for him. Edmonton has been near-unstoppable when he’s been on his game, and quite average when he’s not. There’s obvious impetus on the Canucks’ part to have McDavid off the ice, which adds another element to all this as well.
We’ll know more when the league office either hands down a suspension based on the hit, or ignores it all together. Odds are that action will happen, however.
The Canucks currently lead the Oilers 2-1 in their second round series.
