Chippy game leads to costly suspension
Jason Zucker Tuesday night (12/2) was assessed a 5 minute major for fighting and a 10 minute misconduct for boarding Florida Panthers forward Nick Cousins. Chaos ensued when Nick Cousins made a dangerous hit on Juuso Välimäki when making a play to try and keep the puck in play. Zucker did not take kindly to Cousins dangerous hit and took matters into his own hands, leading to the boarding call, where Zucker came up behind Cousins and gave him a face full of glass leading Cousins to the ground. Gustav Forsling (FLA) stepped in to take a dance with Zucker after his dangerous hit on Cousins. Zucker kicked out for the rest of the game.
It was a dangerous play Zucker had made standing up for his teammate, which led to a hearing next day later afternoon. The boarding call ultimately led to Zucker getting a 3 game suspension.
NHL fans questioning player safety
Florida forward Nick Cousins has had a made a name for himself lately being known to make dangerous plays to players on the ice. Had an incident with Columbus Blue Jacket defenseman Gudbranson last month where he also made a dangerous hit. NHL fans were not happy with player safety that nothing came out of the dangerous play Cousins has made. Especially the hit last night on Välimäki, which was a head contact hit and resulted to no call on the play. Again, no hearings or suspensions for Cousins and did not sit well with fans of the game. Zucker 3 game suspension was evident, but nothing on Cousins had fans yet again questioning the player safety department.
4-1 loss at home
Before Chaos ensued the Coyotes were in for a chippy game from the get go. Both teams playing a hitting game and lots of shots on net. Coyotes trailed 1-0 for most of the game up until a shorthanded goal from Alex Kerfoot. Was a bad defensive turnover from panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and led to Crouse and Kerfoot give and go with Kerfoot going top shelf to tie the game.
After chaos ensued (Zucker and Cousins display) the Coyotes fell apart and took a 4-1 loss after a Sam Reinhart goal, own goal, and an empty net goal. Coyotes look to get a win streak alive again as they have a 4 game homestand at the Mullett. Next game Thursday (12/4) against the New York Islanders.
