Tampa Bay Lightning winger Brandon Hagel was assessed a major penalty for interference – which was upheld after video review – for a late hit on Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov.
Hagel delivered a high, hard hit deep in the Lightning zone, right in front of referee Pierre Lambert. Barkov was skating toward the end boards on the forecheck when Hagel lined him up and delivered a hit with 10:09 to go in the third period.
Refs Pierre Lambert and Gord Dwyer called a major penalty on the play, then headed over to take a second look via video review. On a major penalty, the officials have the option of confirming their call, reducing it to a minor, or rescinding the penalty altogether.
The duo decided the original major penalty would stand.
Here’s Rule 56:
A minor penalty for interference shall be imposed … (iii) On any player who deliberately checks an opponent, including the goalkeeper, who is not in possession of the puck
What differentiates a minor from a major? Degree of violence.
The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence, to a player guilty of interfering with an opponent (see 56.5).
When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for an infraction resulting in an injury of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.
It’s interesting to note that, despite Barkov leaving with an injury, Hagel was not assessed the automatic game misconduct for an injury. He returned to the ice later in the period.
Barkov did not return to the game.
The Florida Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 to take a two-game lead in their best-of-seven series. Officials for the game were referees Gord Dwyer (#19) and Pierre Lambert (#25) with linespersons Bevan Mills (#53) and Devin Berg (#87).
