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Milan Lucic will have a phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after his double-minor misconduct during last night’s 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Edmonton’s Milan Lucic will have a hearing today for roughing Tampa Bay’s Mathieu Joseph.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) November 7, 2018
With about ten minutes remaining in the third period, Mathieu Joseph laid a questionable hit on Oilers’ defenceman Kris Russell, launching Russell into the boards. Lucic tracked down the Lightning rookie to give him the what-for.
Milan Lucic tracks down Mathieu Joseph after he hit Kris Russell from behind and almost starts a line brawl pic.twitter.com/9x5CDQHsfG
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) November 7, 2018
It should be noted that it sure looks like Milan Lucic was ready to go for the kill here, but showed a little restraint. That’s good. Lucic skated after Joseph looking to drop the gloves. When it became obvious that Joseph wasn’t looking for a fight, Lucic unloaded on him with a big hit.
You’ll see what followed in Brady Trettenero’s tweet above.
Opinion: he’ll get two games, max. Joseph didn’t have the puck, and Lucic knew what he was doing all along. Lucic will probably be looked upon favourably for not ripping the kid’s head off
I’ve got no problem with Lucic answering the bell if he believes Russell’s hit was questionable. But, we’re at a point now where this is all that Lucic seems able to do. He’s certainly not scoring 5 on 5, and he was replaced on the PP1 during the Capitals game with Alex Chiasson. If you can’t score, and you’ve been replaced on PP1 with a guy who had a PTO, you’re trying to look for other ways for your presence to be felt. Unfortunately for Lucic, this one might cost him a couple games.
UPDATE: Lucic was fined $10,000 for the incident, the maximum allowable. He’ll miss no time. He’ll be back in the lineup on Thursday night versus Florida.