The NHL’s department of player safety has fined New Jersey Devils defenceman P.K. Subban $15,000 after he tripped Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
The trip, which came less than four minutes into the game, saw Subban come together with Zegras in a scrum in the corner. Subban leans into the hit with his left thigh behind Zegras, who had his back to Subban, and followed through with his leg, causing Zegras to fall backward to the ice. The hit was dangerously close to a slew-foot. No penalty was called on the play. Anaheim won the game, 4-0.
Subban could be fined for the second time in a week. Last week, he was fined a league-maximum $5,000 for dangerously tripping (aka, slew-foot) Calgary Flames forward Milan Lucic on Oct. 26.
In eight games this season, Subban has three assists and is a minus-2. The Devils are sixth in the Metropolitan Division at 4-3-1.
As Lucic retrieved the puck from the corner of his defensive zone, Subban approached him from behind and appeared to deliberately trip him by using his leg — in other words, a slew foot.
Subban received a minor penalty for the incident, which occurred at 11:48 of the first period.
The former Norris Trophy winner made a similar play during pre-season when he tripped up New York Rangers forward Ryan Reaves. Reaves suffered a lower-body injury on the play but Subban was not disciplined by the league.
Zegras has had a different kind of bad week. Cedric Paquette of the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday was suspended two games for his hit on Zegras on Sunday. Zegras was bleeding from his face after the hit.
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