Montreal Canadiens: Should Max Domi be suspended for the punch?
By Omar L
Max Domi had a fiery preseason debut for the Montreal Canadiens after receiving a match penalty for punching Aaron Ekblad in Wednesday’s game.
Max Domi wasn’t the only player on the Montreal Canadiens to standout interestingly in a preseason debut. Remember Andrew Shaw‘s fight against Nathan Walker ahead of the 2016-17 season? Obviously not to the same degree, but it’s something that will stay in the minds of Habs fans for a long time, especially if you were in the crowd.
This Domi incident has triggered debates on social media since it took place. It was the beginning of the third period, and the Habs were still down 2-1 and in need of a strong push to get back in the game. Montreal was on the power play, and a chance in the offensive zone ended up being cleared down the ice.
Most of the Habs players skated back to some degree to reset, except for Domi who was having a conversation with Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad in the corner. There’s intent from the 23-year-old to drop the gloves and throw some hands, but Ekblad wasn’t interested. Domi continued to give the Panthers 2014 first-round pick some jabs with his left and finally dropped his glove punching Ekblad in the nose which sent him to the ice instantly.
Looking at the clip again, what started the incident was a shot in the back and a slash from the big defenceman after Domi attempted to retrieve the puck from the boards.
Both Domi and Ekblad left the game afterwards. The former was given a five-minute major and a match penalty for the punch while the latter had to be taken off after the concussion spotters gave the Panthers bench a call for him to undergo concussion testing.