Earlier this season, Evgeni Malkin hit TJ Oshie high in the head and didn’t receive additional punishment from the league. He also got mad last year at Evgeny Kuznetsov for talking to him in Russian.
Monday evening, Malkin’s taste for retaliation reared its ugly head again, this time against the Philadelphia Flyers’ Michael Raffl.
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Raffl harangued Malkin for the puck and punched him when he couldn’t win it. Malkin retaliated, flinging his stick into Raffl’s general vicinity, struck him in the face, and received a match penalty for his actions.
Monday night, the league announced Malkin would have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety for his baseball swing maneuver over the phone on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin will have a hearing Tuesday for High-sticking/Slashing Philadelphia’s Michael Raffl.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) February 12, 2019
“I know it’s dirty, but I missed,” Malkin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after the game. “He just like dived and the referee give me five minutes. [He wasn’t] injured, not bleeding, nothing.”
“I didn’t hit him in the face,” Malkin explained to the Athletic. “If I had touched him in the face, for sure, I would get suspended. It’s a high stick, but it’s not like I broke his face.”
Tuesday morning, Hall of Famer Mike Lange told the DVE Morning Show that he believed Malkin’s behavior deserved a suspension.
HoFer Mike Lange on DVE Morning Show today on Malkin: “If it were Giroux, what would be the reaction from fans here? I can’t condone what he did. To me, it was a match penalty. It’s with intent to injure. I don’t like what he did. I think there should be some type of suspension.”
— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) February 12, 2019
Lange expounded that Malkin needs to play smarter, and that this wasn’t his first time retaliating.
More Lange on Malkin: “This isn’t a first-time thing. He’s been involved in situations where he’s always apologizing for what he did, ‘I not smart.’ I wish he’d put all that effort that he has in regard to responding into playing the game. If he does that, he’ll be spectacular.”
— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) February 12, 2019
More Lange on Malkin: “These little quirks just kinda lends him away from the team and what the whole process is about, to try and win Cups. He knows how to do that. He’s done it before. He’s gotta gear in. He can be a better player than what he shows when he swings his stick.”
— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) February 12, 2019
Malkin has never been suspended in his career. Last season, he was fined $5000 for spearing Dustin Brown.
5:45pm update: Evgeni Malkin has been suspended one game by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
Per an NHL release:
NEW YORK (Feb. 12, 2019) – Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has been suspended for one game, without pay, for high-sticking Philadelphia Flyers forward Michael Raffl during NHL Game No. 860 in Philadelphia on Monday, Feb. 11, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.
The incident occurred at 15:03 of the third period. Malkin was assessed a match penalty for high-sticking.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Malkin will forfeit $51,075.27. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Headline photo: @bdontvofficial
