Slafkovsky leaves the game after questionable hit from Acciari.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety may have some work to do late on Saturday night after all hell seemed to break loose late in the third period of a game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.

It all started late in the third period, with just a little over 3 minutes remaining on the game clock, when Penguins forward Noel Acciari delivered a questionable hit to Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky. Slafkovsky, the former first overall pick at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, was chasing down the puck when Acciari got there first but opted to deliver a reverse hit instead of playing the puck.

The play in and of itself would have been fine, but Acciari did not appear to make any genuine attempt to play the puck first and may even have gotten his elbow up underneath the chin of Slafkovsky, catching him up high. The Canadiens forward was clutching his head in pain while down on the ice, and making things look even worse for Acciari was the fact that he was acting like he had been the one injured on the play when that was clearly not the case.

Here is a look at the replay of the hit:

The hit from Acciari late in the third period would result in Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj taking a run at him in the dying seconds of the game. Xhekaj would deliver a knee on knee hit to Acciari, which in turn led to more fireworks from both the Penguins and the Canadiens after the final horn had already blown.

What the league will take a look at and how they will rule on this situation remains to be seen.