Maple Leafs striker Kyle Clifford will have a hearing with the NHL’s safety department on Tuesday after receiving a big penalty in Toronto’s first win over Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
Clifford was hailed as a major for boarding and misconduct just seven minutes after Game 1 for a goal by Ross Colton from Tampa Bay.
Colton was sent face down on the board, but escaped serious injury during the game.
The Maple Leafs destroyed the ensuing five-minute powerful game and opened the best series of seven with a 5-0 victory over two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
WATCH Clifford was sent off from match 1 after a boarding penalty:
Clifford of Leafs threw out of game 1 for hitting Colton in the Lightning
Toronto striker Kyle Clifford receives a severe penalty for boarding and misconduct for hitting Tampa Bay striker Ross Colton. 1:24
“[Clifford’s] must withstand the line. And this is not an easy application for a player like him. When you are him, you want to get to the top of the opposition quickly, you want to complete your checks, you want to leave your mark physically, “Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Tuesday.
“He just finished a good test [on Lightning defenceman Jan Rutta] and the building seems to explode. And then suddenly there is a second check. It was a split-second decision, and it wasn’t good for him. But he knows that. He has been in the game for a long time and has played this way for a long time. He paid for it at that moment. We paid for it as a team. “
The NHL Players’ Safety Department also announced Tuesday that Toronto striker Wayne Simmonds and Tampa Bay strikers Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon have been fined $ 2,250, the maximum allowed under the collective agreement, for unsportsmanlike conduct during Match 1.
The three players were the instigators of a brawl that erupted in the late stages of the third period.
Maroon was considered a 10-minute foul; Perry received a small sanction for unsportsmanlike conduct, a pair of light penalties for rude behavior and 10 minutes of misconduct; and Simmonds received a 10-minute foul.
Also Tuesday, Minnesota defender Wilde Spurgeon was fined $ 5,000 for cross-checking St. Louis striker Pavel Buchnevich with the remaining 1:46 in the Blues’ 4-0 victory at St. Paul’s on Monday.
WATCH Matthews scored twice in the win against Lightning:
Matthews ‘second goal in Match 1 sealed Leafs’ victory over Lightning
Toronto beat Tampa Bay 5-0 in Game 1 of their first-round series, and Auston Matthews scored 2 goals and assisted. 1:02
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