Detroit Red Wings forward Darren Helm’s stickwork cost him most of the third period of Thursday night’s game.  Now it’s cost him $5,000.

Helm has been fined $5,000 for slashing Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm.

 

 

The incident took place 5:10 into the third period when the two teams met Thursday in Calgary.

Helm upended Lindholm on a center-ice faceoff.   As play continued into the Flames’ zone, Lindholm retaliated by delivering an elbow to Helm’s head, knocking the Detroit forward to the ice. initiated the altercation with an elbow to Helm’s head, knocking the Wings forward to the ice.   Helm went back at Lindholm, slashing the back of the Calgary player’s leg well away from the puck.

“Their guy comes with an elbow that should have probably been called right away,” said Detroit coach coach Jeff Blashill. “Then Darren reacts to that as most guys would, you get an elbow to the face for no reason you’re going to react. We got to be more disciplined in those situations, but he slashed him. I don’t think the slash was that super-hard, but it sure looked hard the way he went down.”

Helm was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for slashing.  Lindholm, who had to be helped off the ice, was given a minor for interference.

Here’s the NHL rule on slashing:

61.1 Slashing – Slashing is the act of a player swinging his stick at an opponent, whether contact is made or not. … Any forceful or powerful chop with the stick on an opponent’s body, the opponent’s stick, or on or near the opponent’s hands that, in the judgment of the Referee, is not an attempt to play the puck, shall be penalized as slashing.

61.2 Minor Penalty – A minor penalty, at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who slashes an opponent.

61.3 Major Penalty – A major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who slashes an opponent. When injury occurs, a major penalty must be assessed under this rule.

61.4 Match Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by slashing.

61.5 Game Misconduct Penalty – Whenever a major penalty is assessed for slashing, a game misconduct penalty must also be imposed.

Referees TJ Luxmore and Tim Peel reviewed the call via video replay to confirm the major penalty.  This year, referees are given the option to leverage video review for any major or match penalties to confirm the call.

From Rule 20.6: Referees shall review all plays that result in the assessment of any Major Penalty (other than a Major Penalty for Fighting) for the purpose of confirming (or modifying) their original call on the ice. […]  The Referee shall only have the following options following video review of his own call: (i) confirming his original Major Penalty call; or (ii) reducing his original Major Penalty call to a lesser penalty for the  same infraction.

In this case, the officials stood by the original major penalty assessed.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety also took a second look, deciding that Helm’s actions warranted an additional fine.

Referees for the game were TJ Luxmore and Tim Peel.  Linesmen were Mark Shewchyk and Brad Kovachik.