NHL Player Safety has suspended Tampa Bay Lightning player Alex Killorn for one playoff game after he sent New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson into the boards during Wednesday’s Game 2 Eastern Conference Finals match-up.
In a video description of their reasoning for the suspension, they describe that Nelson took a hit well after he had released the puck. They called Nelson defenseless and that Killorn had seen the numbers for some time.
They noted that this was not a sudden movement by Nelson that changed the optics of the hit. They said that the angle of approach that Killorn and the fact the puck was gone is why he was suspended.
The video went on to say that to avoid suspension, Killorn needed to minimize the force of the hit and didn’t do so. Killorn was fined only once before and his record likely factored into the length of (or lack thereof) a more serious suspension.
He will sit the next game in the series and as the Lightning try to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.
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