Oiler suspended after dangerous hit.

Matt Hendricks has been suspended 3 games for his hit to Aaron Ekblad.

He was not penalized on the play but he did end up dropping the gloves with Alex Petrovic after the hit. Ekblad looked dazed after the hit and he missed the game against the Canucks last night.

Hendricks had no past history of being suspended. The injury suffered by Ekblad payed into the result of the suspension. The main factor was that Hendricks, after dumping the puck into the Panthers zone, tracked Ekblad the whole way while he retrieved the puck but was facing Ekblad's number the whole time. He made contact with Ekblad's back shoulder and the impact was significant. Therefore it was deemed boarding and the suspension was handed down.

Here is the video explaining all of this in detail, courtesy of the department of player safety: