Conor Geekie will be severely punished for what he did to the Florida Panthers.
Originally published on Hockey Unplugged | Written by Axel Williams | Updated on October 3, 24
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Conor Geekie is having some difficulties following his battle with the Florida Panthers’ Josh Davies last night.
Fighting is usually not a reason to suspend someone. Still, there was something wrong with his approach to the fight. Davies stunned the Lightning by hitting Victor Hedman with a powerful hit to set the tone. Davies then had to face up against Nikita Kucherov.
During a line change later in the game, Geekie came off the bench to engage in combat with Davies right away. Usually, this is not possible. Frank Seravalli states that a 10-game penalty is imposed for coming off the bench to fight. There are certain exceptions, though. For example, the penalty is somewhat less harsh if you are leaving the bench for a legitimate line change.
Geekie won’t receive ten games because he was taking part in a legitimate line change. He should probably anticipate a game or two for his sins, though, as he still began a fight after coming off his team’s bench. It will be fascinating to see what the league decides at his hearing later today.
The NHL clearly has to take action after a stressful week involving Tim Stutzle, Arber Xhekaj, Cedric Pare, and many others. We haven’t even into the regular season yet, yet there are already far too many instances happening. The water must contain something.
