Daniel Carcillo Suspended Ten Games John Hartzmark

The NHL has automatically suspended New York Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo ten games for abuse towards officials. This is a result of being assessed a Game Misconduct penalty under Rule 40.3, Physical Abuse of Officials-Category II, during last night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Madison Square Garden.

The incident occurred at the 14:09 mark of the first period. Carcillo “physically applied force” to linesman Scott Driscoll, while being taken to the penalty box. The Rule states:

“Any player who deliberately applies physical force to an official in any manner (excluding actions as set out in Category I), which physical force is applied without intent to injure, or who spits on an official, shall be automatically suspended for not less than ten (10) games.”

In other news in this series, Brandon Prust is having a phone hearing for his hit on Derek Stepan. Prust was not penalized on the play, but media outlets are saying that Prust will be suspended, most likely because they hit was late and after Stepan moved the puck. Stepan was taken to a hospital after the game, and had x-rays taken of his jaw, which came back negative. He was then given a CT scan which showed a fractured jaw. Stepan was then taken for surgery on his jaw. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told reporters today that he did not know that Stepan was injured until this morning. Stepan was hit at the 2:48 mark of the first period, Stepan, after being taken for x-rays, returned at the 8:48 mark and resumed playing. Last night he tallied 24 shifts for 17:46 of total ice time, which calculated to 22 shifts and 16:52 AFTER he suffered the broken jaw. If Stepan cannot play in Game 4 Sunday, JT Miller or Jesper Fast, who are the extra forwards for the Rangers, will most likely take his place. The Rangers are already playing without Derek Brassard, who has been centering the stellar fourth-line of New York, who has not played since suffering an upper-body injury in Game 1.