Darnell Nurse cross-checked Matthew Tkachuk up high Thursday night and went to the box, the latest flashpoint in the San Jose Sharks' opener against Florida.
Gino Hard described it as a cross-check to the head, and Nurse was sent off for it.
In the clip, the Sharks defenseman in teal No. 25 has both gloves and his stick up on Tkachuk along the boards, with Yaroslav Askarov watching from the crease.
That one deserved the call. A stick up around the head is exactly what officials are supposed to stop, especially in a game that had already gone sideways.
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It's the third argument at the same family dinner. By then, nobody remembers who started it.
How many flashpoints can one game hold? Brady Tkachuk and Jacob Trouba already had majors, Macklin Celebrini was caught cross-checking Aleksander Barkov, and Anton Lundell caught a high stick.
Barkov also went down the tunnel after an awkward fall, and Dr. Harjas Grewal flagged a possible MCL tear from the video.
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An account called oilygifs needed two words: miss him
The clip drew a reaction from an account called janmark archivist, posting as oilygifs, with a simple caption: "miss him."
Read into that what you will. Nurse carries a $9,250,000 cap hit in San Jose.
At last check, he had four penalty minutes in 11:06 of ice time.
Matthew Tkachuk had one shot on goal through 40 minutes.
He carries a $9,500,000 cap hit, the same number Seth Jones carries on Florida's pay sheet.
The Sharks led 3-1 after two periods, with Will Smith scoring twice.
Celebrini had two assists through two periods, right in the middle of all of it.
Yaroslav Askarov had stopped 17 of 18 shots for San Jose.
Ryan Warsofsky's group is playing its home opener, and Paul Maurice's Panthers came in at 1-0-0.
The Sharks host Los Angeles on Saturday, and the Panthers head to Anaheim on Sunday.
These two don't meet again until February 21. After a night like this, that might be the healthiest scheduling decision the NHL made all year.
Should Darnell Nurse face supplemental discipline for his cross-check on Matthew Tkachuk?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Brady Tkachuk cheap-shots Macklin Celebrini then gets rocked by Jacob Trouba
