Michael Pezzetta facing a suspension for hit on T.J. Oshie.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety is set to come down on Montreal Canadiens forward Michael Pezzetta.

On Sunday the Department of Player Safety officially announced that the 24 year old Pezzetta would face a hearing following a hit he delivered to Washington Capitals veteran forward T.J. Oshie. The hit was delivered relatively late during the Capitals' win over the Canadiens on Saturday night, and that combined with the nature of the hit itself leads me to believe that Pezzetta is in fact headed for a suspension.

At the time of the incident there were roughly only 4 minutes left on the game clock with the Capitals having a commanding 7 - 4 lead over the Canadiens, but in spite of that Pezzetta delivered what was a very questionable hit to Oshie. Oshie had already played the puck along the boards and while the hit itself was not late, Pezzetta appeared to catch Oshie in the head with the full force of his body check. You would be hard pressed to argue that anything other than Oshie's head was the primary point of contact, and the NHL officials on the ice agreed by immediately awarding Pezzetta a 2 minute minor for the infraction.

In spite of the fact that he was penalized on the play itself on Saturday it now appears the league feels supplementary discipline is in order, a tough break for a young winger in what is his rookie season in the NHL.

I suspect that Pezzetta, a first time offender, will get no more than 2 games and if I were a betting man I would wager that the Department of Player Safety will award him with a one game suspension just to send a message to the young forward that he needs to be more careful.

If you haven't seen the hit for yourself, first here is a short clip of the best angle of the impact to Oshie's head:

And here is the full sequence of events leading up to and stemming from the hit on Oshie: