Darnell Nurse suspended three games for violating 'aggressor' rule
The NHL suspended Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse three games for violating the league’s “aggressor” rule during an altercation with San Jose Sharks defenseman Roman Polak. The play happened on Tuesday in San Jose’s 3-0 win over Edmonton.
As Polak went to the Sharks bench to make a line change, Nurse encountered him and started punching Polak, who never dropped his gloves. The play happened at the 18:20 mark of the third period.
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A video of the altercation, with an explanation from the NHL's Department of Player Safety is above. Nurse received two minutes for roughing and a five-minute major for fighting. Polak also received a five-minute major for fighting.
The play is in violation of Rule 46.2, which is listed below.
The aggressor in an altercation shall be the player who continues to throw punches in an attempt to inflict punishment on his opponent who is in a defenseless position or who is an unwilling combatant.
A player must be deemed the aggressor when he has clearly won the fight but he continues throwing and landing punches in a further attempt to inflict punishment and/or injury on his opponent who is no longer in a position to defend himself.
A player who is deemed to be the aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct.
A player who is deemed to be the aggressor of an altercation will have this recorded as an aggressor of an altercation for statistical and suspension purposes.
A player who is deemed to be both the instigator and aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct (instigator) and a game misconduct penalty (aggressor).
“At no point during this altercation does Polak drop his gloves, throw a punch or do anything other than attempt to defend himself from the attack,” the Department of Player Safety said in their video explaining the suspension.
The video counts a total of eight punches thrown by Nurse at Polak. According to the Department of Player Safety, the play was likely in retaliation for and earlier situation where Oilers forward Matt Hendricks slammed hard into the boards in front of Polak. This led to a Polak two-minute minor for roughing.
Nurse will forfeit a total of $13,924.74 for the suspension.
The play itself looks similar to Arizona Coyotes forward Max Domi jumping Ryan Garbutt in a game last week. Domi received a one-game suspension for instigating an altercation in the final five minutes of regulation. Garbutt did not suffer an injury on the play, while Polak was bloodied in the altercation with Nurse.
Also on Thursday, the Department of Player Safety announced Boston Bruins defenseman John-Michael Liles will not receive any supplemental discipline for his hit on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. That play occurred in a Tuesday game.
Liles had a hearing Thursday. Kucherov was not injured on the play and stayed in the game.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
