Captain Auston Matthews of Toronto Maple Leafs made an astonishing admission after the 2-0 victory of his team in match 6 against the Florida Panthers on Friday evening.
About the 10 -minute brand of the second period, an apparently raised stick inadvertently by the captain of the Florida Sasha Barkov Panthers caught Matthews under the visor, sending him to the bench in an obvious discomfort.
Here is an overview of the room:
Matthews went to the locker room for repairs, returning to the match a few moments later.
After the match, Luke Fox de Sportsnet reported the following:
“Auston Matthews says that Barkov High’s stick temporarily altered his vision but assures that he is well now.”
TV broadcast has shown that Matthews wiped his eye, being unable to open it. Although it does not seem that the game affected him during the match, we do not know if there are long -term consequences.
The team will certainly examine Auston Matthews more closely in the days to determine if there are damage to their vision.
But to judge by his game on the ice, Matthews seemed very well when he scored the winner of the match in the third period to raise the Leafs in front of the Panthers of match 6 and forced a match 7 on Sunday evening.
No penalty called Barkov’s high stick on Auston Matthews
In what could have been a replay from the 1993 high stick on Doug Gilmour, no penalty was called on the high stick of Barkov on Auston Matthews.
It is difficult to call a penalty while the blade of the Barkov stick caught Auston Matthews on follow -up during the confrontation. As such, ice officials did not think that the game was an intentional high stick.
High collage penalties are generally called when a player is carefree with his stick, catching another player anywhere in the facial region.
The Hockey Rules Book stresses that a minor penalty “will be assessed for a high opponent of an opponent”.
According to this standard, Barkov deserved a two -minute minor. However, the Book of Rules also stresses that a high sticky offense is considered when a player carries his stick beyond the normal height of the shoulders of his opponent.
One could argue that this incident did not imply a stick over the opponents of the opponent (Matthews). Consequently, the civil servants did not whistle and the game continued.
Leafs fans hope that Matthews will not suffer any persistent effects of the high stick while the team will count on him to open the way in match 7.