The Edmonton Oilers were not at all happy with Alex Pietrangelo's violent slash on Leon Draisaitl at the end of Game 4 on Wednesday night, and after Connor McDavid called for a suspension, Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said it was a play that doesn't belong in the game.
“If you're asking my opinion on that play, I would not define it as a hockey play,” Woodcroft said, according to ESPN's Kristen Shilton. “And I'll leave it at that. I'm sure [the league] will take a look at it.”
This is an absolutely garbage play.
Could note be a more obvious intent to injure.
Suspension!!! 🤬🤬🤬
— Captain Jack 🏴☠️ (@OilersJack) May 11, 2023
Pietrangelo earned a five-minute major and game misconduct for the slash, and will be hearing from the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Thursday. He's never been suspended in his career, but that is very likely going to change.
It wasn't the only chippiness at the end of the Oilers 4-1 win against the Golden Knights at Rogers Place on Wednesday; Darnell Nurse and Nicolas Hague exchanged fisticuffs in the final minute of the third period.
Nurse earned an extra instigator penalty, which under NHL rules is an automatic one-game suspension since it occurred in the final five minutes of the contest. The league can overturn that upon review.
Hague drops his gloves first in this video and was asking for this fight all night
The NHL might want to review that weak “instigator” penalty
🧐🧐🧐
— Captain Jack 🏴☠️ (@OilersJack) May 11, 2023
“I saw the play going on, I saw Darnell wrap somebody up and I saw their player with his gloves off first,” Woodcroft said regarding the play. “So to me, that's two willing combatants. It's not like someone was turtled up into a ball. I thought it started with [Hague] having his gloves off first and he threw the first eight punches.”
The most likely scenario is that the NHL will uphold Nurse's suspension, and also give Alex Pietrangelo a game for the slash. The final decision will be handed out by the Department of Player Safety sometime on Thursday.
The series shifts back to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Friday night at T-Mobile arena, and the way this series is going, there should be a lot more rough stuff before either the Golden Knights or Oilers advance to the Western Conference Final.
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