With a little over 20 seconds remaining in regulation of Sunday’s Capitals-Stars game, Jamie Benn made a dangerous cross-check on John Carlson that sent the veteran defensemen crashing into the boards and left him smarting in pain.
When asked about the play postgame, Caps head coach Peter Laviolette did not mince his words.
“He (Benn) gave it a lot of help. That’s dirty,” Laviolette said. And when asked by The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir if the league needs to look at the play in regards to supplemental discipline, the bench boss was adamant that they should, saying “They have to. That’s one of our best players.”
How is this not a penalty on Benn pic.twitter.com/eHPJcy4ZN6
— alberto (@twistedleafs) March 20, 2022
Benn escaped with no penalty for his actions, only being sent to the box for roughing in the ensuing scrum. A roughing penalty he received to match Tom Wilson’s and make the game four-on-four instead of giving the Caps what could have been a late, crucial six-on-four advantage.
Of course, Stars head coach Rick Bowness saw it another way.
“I mean, that’s two guys going for a loose puck,” Bowness said to The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf. “He gives him a little shot in the hips and he goes down.”
Benn has a history of dangerous cross-checks as he prematurely ended the season of Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin with one last year.
Here's what happened to Dylan Larkin, thanks to @Harjas_Grewal for pointing it out. Cross-checked in the back of the neck by Benn on Tuesday https://t.co/AlpPDYXwuq pic.twitter.com/oYn8wgzLkC
— NHL Review (@nhl_review) April 23, 2021
Screenshot via NBC Sports Washington
