Red Wings Without Kronwall For Game 7

Niklas Kronwall will not play in game 7.  He was suspended for a hit that took place late in the second period of game 6.  Interesting in this case, there was no penalty called during the game.  It was reviewed by the Department of Player Safety and assessed after the fact.  I don’t disagree with the suspension.  It was a pretty vicious hit.

Do you agree in a suspension when there was no call during the game?

More insight from Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy:

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall was suspended by the NHL for Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, as a result of dangerous hit on Nikita Kucherov in Monday night’s Game 6.

Kronwall, one of the NHL’s most lethal checkers, had never been fined nor suspended in his 11-year career in Detroit.

The incident occurred at 18:55 of the second period, when Kronwall skated into Kucherov as the Lightning player was handling the puck. Kucherov was shaken up but not injured, and took regular shifts in the third period.

The NHL said Kronwall “launched into a hit” on Kucherov, that “resulted in significant head contact.” At issue: That Kronwall took several strides before going “up and in” on his hit, and that’s the double-whammy of charging and an illegal hit to the head.

Read the read of the commentary here.

Photo courtesy of Anna Enriquez.