Montreal Canadiens: Juraj Slafkovsky could face punishment for recent hit

The Montreal Canadiens capped off a shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. They ultimately came out of Detroit victorious after an aggressive game from the Habs players. The last time they were in Detroit, Jake Allen got peppered with shots all night.

However, one of the hits may have crossed the line. Montreal Canadiens youngster Juraj Slafkovsky put a hit on Red Wings forward Matt Luff from behind, resulting in a 5-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct.

Here’s a side-angle video of Slafkovsky sending Luff headfirst into the boards.

Luff has just graduated from the protective cage/visor helmet after a shot got up and hit him in the face, resulting in Luff needing almost 20 stitches. The hit was not pretty and resulted in Slafkovsky getting tossed. Here’s another angle from the Red Wings Bally Sports broadcast.

Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky could face punishment for the hit.

If you look closely, Luff is trying to dump the puck into the net and ultimately whiffs. Slafkovsky, who’s not charging him, gliding that way, throws his left shoulder into the back of Luff, sending him face-first into the boards.

Luff ended up bloodied up, and Slafkovsky got jumped in front of the Red Wings bench, which turned into a skirmish among a few of the players as Slafkovsky managed to peel out near the Habs bench.

This is one of those plays that will likely result in a call with the NHL Player Safety office. Nothing had been announced at the time of writing on Tuesday night, but as the one tweet notes, this seems like the type of play that will get a call to result from it.

Slafkovsky was kicked out of the game, finishing with 10:33 of ice time with a shot on goal to his credit. He’s a young player with a big and physical frame. Frankly, something like this is going to happen from time to time.

Especially with Luff whiffing on the puck. I’m not trying to defend Slafkovsky for throwing the shoulder into his back. But if Luff makes contact on the first swing and chips that puck in, he might have vacated that area and been in a better position to receive a hit as Slafkovsky comes by.

Given the positional change, Slafkovsky may not even be able to get a body on Luff as he’s coming by. It’s not that Slafkovsky had a full head of steam and could not stop himself; he was gliding in that direction and then threw a shoulder into Luff’s back.

It’s the type of hit that can result in some nasty injuries and one that the Habs youngster has to avoid. I’m all for using his size and frame to his advantage, but there are better ways to impose some strength and physicality on Luff than just dropping a shoulder into his back and sending him face-first into the boards.

Swing wide and throw the shoulder at him from the side, use some strength on the stick and try to go for a stick-lift as he tries to take another hack at it, or maybe create pressure along the boards and use the size to your advantage at that point.

This is simply my opinion from someone watching the game. I’m not a rules expert, I’m not a referee, and I am not part of the NHL Player Safety committee. Simply a fan who was watching the game from his couch.

It seems like Slafkovsky has to button this one up and avoid making that hit in the future. It feels like he’s heading toward a fine or suspension for his actions in Tuesday’s game.