Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy received a four-game suspension Tuesday for his check to the head on Florida Panthers blue-liner Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The discipline was handed down following McAvoy’s phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety earlier in the day.
McAvoy caught Ekman-Larsson’s head with his shoulder after the latter already had played the puck at 9:28 of the third period of Monday’s game. Ekman-Larsson did not return to the game due to his undisclosed injury.
A Department of Player Safety official said in an explanation video that McAvoy’s hit satisfied both elements for an illegal check to the head: Ekman-Larsson’s head was the main point of contact, and the hit was avoidable.
“If McAvoy wants to deliver this hit, he must stay low and choose an angle that hits through Ekman-Larsson’s shoulder and core, rather than one that makes the head the main point of contact,” the official said.
The official noted that McAvoy, 25, received his first career suspension during the 2019 playoffs. He was issued a one-game ban for a hit to the head of then-Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson.
With the suspension, McAvoy will miss a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a two-game road trip to the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars and a home contest against the New York Islanders.
McAvoy has totaled eight points (two goals, six assists) and a plus-6 rating in nine games this season.
He has 238 points (43 goals, 195 assists) in 389 career games since being selected by the Bruins with the 14th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft.
On Monday night, the Bruins killed off the ensuing five-minute major to McAvoy and went on to post a 3-2 overtime victory over the Panthers.
Boston (8-0-1) has notched at least a point in all nine games this season.
–Field Level Media
