Arizona Coyotes forward Jason Zucker has been suspended three games for boarding Florida Panthers’ Nick Cousins late on Wednesday evening.
Zucker had a hearing earlier today after he went after Cousins near the side boards in last night's game. The Panthers' player had been seen hitting Juuso Valimaki in a vulnerable spot, and has been known this season to get away with questionable hits. Zucker had had enough, but made a terrible judgement call and crushed Cousins.
Tempers quickly flared and Cousins’ teammate defenseman Gustav Forsling challenged Zucker right after his move. An intense exchange of heavy punches ended with Zucker’s helmet flying off his head and officials handing out penalties.
Zucker received a 10-minute game misconduct, a five-minute fighting penalty, and an additional five-minute penalty for boarding, served by Zach Sanford. As for the Panthers, Forsling got a 10-minute misconduct, a five-minute fighting penalty and a two-minute instigator penalty, served by Anton Lundell.
And now he gets a three-game ban for this:
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice revealed after the game that Cousins was in concussion protocol and was likely to miss the game on Thursday night.
Zucker has six goals and 12 points in 29 games this season with Arizona, his first with the team. Since he started his career, he has put up 188 goals and 350 points in 657 career NHL games split between Minnesota Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins and Yotes.
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