The Chicago Blackhawks are entering uncharted territory Tuesday night. They have never played without both Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook since they entered the league in the 2005-06 season, according to Mark Potash.
Tuesday, with Seabrook out of the lineup due to illness, Keith took a match penalty early in the game against the Minnesota Wild.
Keith was given the match penalty for intent to injury after slashing Wild forward Charlie Coyle in the face. Coyle checked Keith to the ice, and lying on his back, Keith took a swing at Coyle, leaving his face bloodied.
Coyle briefly left the game, but returned after getting a little medical attention.
The match penalty carries an automatic one-game suspension, unless the NHL rescinds the suspension, but in this instance that’s unlikely. It wasn’t long after receiving the penalty that Chris Kuc reported that the NHL Department of Player Safety was reviewing the play.
Keith has been suspended twice in his career, including a high-sticking infraction that bears some resemblance to this play. That took place in 2013 when he slashed Jeff Carter in the chops.
The play may get Keith more than the one-game automatic suspension.
Here’s the play.
Charlie Coyle took a stick to the face from Duncan Keith on this play, Keith was given the 5 min max pic.twitter.com/SA1x4pq4Ga
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) March 30, 2016
Update:
Tonight’s NHL on NBC broadcast gave a slow motion glimpse of the slash that gets a little better look at it. See that below, courtesy of @MyRegularFace.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/714986821608947712
