Philip Danault escaped with impunity. The blow to Tim Stotzel at the start of the third game on Sunday, which struck the up-and-coming German player in the throat, appears to have gone unnoticed.

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The Canadian attacker did not receive any punishment. Neither on-line nor from the NHL Player Safety department.

Moreover, it has to be questioned whether the NHL disciplinary governor, George Barros, saw this gesture as no mention of the event was entered.

As per rule 62.3 of the NHL rulebook, a player who contributes to the opponent should be awarded a heavy penalty. This automatically leads to game misconduct.

Suspension in four years

When asked about Monday morning, DJ Smith was quick to eliminate any possibility of controversy in the bud.

“Referees are doing their best. Hockey is a fast-paced game, things happen very quickly. Since the start of the season I have found that the officials have done a flawless job. There was a match where they gave us a lot of penalty kicks, but they were deserved.”

According to scoutinftherefs.com, Brad Marchand (2 games) of Bruins’ last darts comment was imposed on April 4, 2017, for a nod against Jake Dotchin, of Lightning.

Since then, the Players Safety Department has been satisfied with handing over five fines.

Chabot comeback?

Additionally, Thomas Chabot trained again with his teammates on Monday. Smith has not confirmed the return of his defender in training.

He said, “I didn’t have time to talk to the therapists, but he looked great on ice.”

Chabot missed the last two matches due to an upper body injury. Since he used 25 and a half minutes per match on average, his absence left a large hole in the Senate’s defensive lineup.