Buffalo Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton will likely be watching the next few games from the press box after he caught New Jersey center Nico Hischier with a high hit in the first period of a 5-4 Devils win on Friday night.
Clifton will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Saturday, the league confirmed. He is facing the discipline for “an illegal check to the head,” which earned him a match penalty.
Hischier returned in the second period, and played seven shifts in the stanza, but was absent for the third as the Devils felled the Sabres and hung on for their third win in four games. The hit occurred at the 16:00 mark of the opening frame at the Prudential Center in Newark.
“The following grounds are being considered for supplemental discipline: Illegal check to the head,” the NHL's official release stated. “However, the Department of Player Safety retains the right to make adjustments to the infraction upon review.”
After the hit, Clifton was handed a fighting major, while Devils forward Ondrej Palat received an instigator penalty, a fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct.
Hischier is only day-to-day, which is encouraging considering the illegal nature of the check. New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff confirmed that Hischier was kept off the ice for the third period for precautionary reasons.
“Just held out, precautionary,” Ruff told Devils team reporter Amanda Stein. “We'll see how he's doing [Saturday].”
The Devils will remain at home over the weekend, hosting the Minnesota Wild at the Prudential Center on Sunday afternoon. The team will have a break after that, with no games scheduled until next Thursday night in the State of Hockey for a quick rematch.
Connor Clifton played the first five seasons of his career with the Boston Bruins, reaching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final with the team in 2019. He signed a three-year contract with the Sabres as a free agent, in a contract that will pay him $3.33 million for the next three NHL campaigns.
The Sabres are back in action on Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Avalanche in Western New York.