Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon will not be suspended for cross-checking St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich and has instead been fined $5,000, the maximum under the collective bargaining agreement, the league's department of player safety said Tuesday.
The incident occurred late in the third period of the team's series-opening game on Monday night. With the Wild trailing 4-0, Spurgeon cleared the puck off Buchnevich's stick before cross-checking the Blues forward's ankle area against the ice in a bout of frustration.
Spurgeon received a two-minute minor penalty for his actions.
After the game, Blues head coach Craig Berube elected not to weigh in on what happened, saying he would "look at it later."
Outbursts like that have not been common in Spurgeon's career. Across his 12 years in the NHL, he has never amassed more than 20 penalty minutes in a season.
Spurgeon finished as the runner-up to Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Jaccob Slavin for the Lady Byng Memorial trophy last season, which is annually awarded to the "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."
This season, the 32-year-old had 10 goals and 30 assists, averaging 21:09 of ice-time, yet only recorded 10 penalty minutes in 65 games.
"Reminder, for uh… well… no reason at all really, that PHWA ballots which include Lady Byng voting were due prior to puck drop on the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs," said Thomas Drance of Sportsnet The Fan 650's Canucks Hour, on Twitter.
The Blues lead the first-round series 1-0. Game 2 takes place Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 360.
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