Rangers' K'Andre Miller suspended 3 games for spitting on Drew Doughty

New York Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller has been suspended for three games for spitting on Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, the NHL's department of players safety announced on Tuesday.

During the Rangers' 5-2 win over the Kings on Sunday, Miller appeared to spit on Doughty while the two were engaged in a skirmish after the whistle.

Miller will forfeit $15,000 based on his annual average salary.

Miller was remorseful after the game, taking to Twitter to clear the air and explain that the incident was "completely accidental."

"I wanted to take a moment to address what occurred in last night's game," Miller wrote. "I have all the respect in the world for Drew Doughty and what happened was completely accidental. I would never intend to do something like that on purpose, it goes against everything I am as a person and player. I felt awful about it and I am thankful Drew gave me the opportunity to apologize and explain myself in person after the game."

Doughty was not happy about Miller's actions, expressing his disappointment to reporters following the game.

"I don’t even know if I said anything to him after. You don’t want to see things like that in this game," he said. "I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. I’m sure it has happened, not that I’ve seen. It’s unfortunate.

"Whether or not he meant to do it, I have no idea. It’s pretty big loogie on my face, so I was pretty (miffed)."

Miller, 23, is having a breakout season for New York, registering a career-high 30 points in 60 games while averaging a career-high 21:56 minutes of ice time per game.

Boston Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway was the last NHL player to be suspended for a similar transgression after he spit on then Anaheim Ducks defenseman Erik Gudbranson in November 2019.