Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety after catching New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech with a flying elbow in the third period of Thursday's 4-3 win.
The hit was so vicious that even Gallagher's former teammate PK Subban believes he should be suspended.
“It’s a great game, everything is good and then there’s this play,” said the former NHL D-man and current ESPN analyst.
“It’s not a hockey play. It’s not a collision in the corner. It’s not a battle for the puck. This is a guy skating the puck through the middle of the ice and Gallagher throws his elbow right into his chin. I don’t know how else I’m supposed to call that, but to me those are the hits that we just can’t have. That’s just inexcusable. There’s no upside.”
Admittedly, it was a pretty brutal hit. The 29-year-old Pelech was skating through the neutral zone with under 10 minutes left in the third period, did not have the puck on his stick, and received a dirty elbow to the face that left him lying on the ice.
After being attended to by the training staff, Pelech made his way to the dressing room. Gallagher was hit with a five-minute major and game misconduct for an elbow to the head.
The Isles scored two goals on the five-minute powerplay, but the Canadiens took the lead again on a Sean Monahan go-ahead tally at 17:48 of the third. It held up as the winner as the Habs improved to 20-21-7.
No update on Islanders' Adam Pelech
New York head coach Patrick Roy didn't have an update on one of his best defensemen after the game.
“I think we all saw what happened,” the Islanders new bench boss told reporters afterwards, according to The Post’s Ethan Sears. “I think the league’s gonna review the hit. That’s all I can say for now.”
The league will certainly be reviewing the hit, and if PK Subban is right, they'll be throwing the book at Brendan Gallagher.
“To see a game like this that’s been so good, to have something like that, Player Safety can’t be happy with that,” Subban finished. “I gotta call it consistent and I have to call it that way no matter who it is. I don’t want to see hits like this in the game and Player Safety has got to step up.”
Gallagher will have a phone hearing on Friday, guaranteeing his ban will be no longer than five games. But almost certainly, he won't be playing hockey again for the Canadiens until long after the All-Star break.
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