Jack Eichel headed for the first suspension of his NHL career.

It looks like Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel will not be protected by his star status this time around. 

Eichel and his aforementioned Buffalo Sabres took on the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night and although it would have appeared to be a game with relatively little at stake from the outside looking in, unless you are still hopeful that the Avalanche can claw their way into the postseason in spite of losing captain Gabriel Landeskog that is. In spite of that however things got very rough very early.

It was just a little over halfway through the game's first period when Colorado Avalance defenseman Nikita Zadorov made everyone on the Sabres roster very angry when he took a run at Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel. Eichel was carrying the puck into the offensive zone when play was blown dead for an offside, Zadorov however did not stop playing. In spite of the whistle being blown Zadorov continued to follow through with a hit directed at Eichel, one that not only took the Sabres captain off his feet but one that also sent his helmet flying as well. Needless to say the Sabres were not the least bit pleased and a melee quickly ensued and you knew that the Sabres would come looking for retribution later in the game. 

Well that retribution appears to have come in the form of Jack Eichel himself with the Sabres captain throwing a very ugly hit of his own on the evening. This time it was Colorado Avalanche veteran center Carl Soderberg who was on the receiving end of the hit, one that clearly caught him way up high and one that Soderberg likely never expected. The veteran center was trying to make a play for the puck along the boards in the neutral zone but before he ever got to the puck Eichel through a big time open ice hit on him, catching him squarely in the head and sending him down to the ice in a heap. 

Well according to a report from Buffalo Sabres insider Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News it looks like it will be only the Sabres who face additional discipline for their actions on Saturday night. Harrington reports that a source has informed him that Eichel will having a hearing for his hit to the head of Soderberg which likely means that he is going to be receiving some time off from the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety. The league previously handed down a suspension of 2 games to Oilers captain Connor McDavid for a similar infraction so I would imagine Eichel gets something close to that as well.

[pub]