How close did New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider come to earning a one-game suspension? Was it a foot? Or was he close to a metre shy of clearing the glass with Matthew Tkachuk’s mouthguard on Wednesday night?
Much has been made about the “mouthguard toss” from Game 3 between the Florida Panthers. The incident occurred at a stoppage of play at 19:12 of the third period, when Kreider and Tkachuk came together and began jawing at one another, while the linesmen worked to separate them. Then, as Kreider skated away, he tossed something over his shoulder in the direction of the crowd.
That “something” was Tkachuk’s mouthguard, which Kreider somehow had in his glove.
“I know it’s a hilarious story but it’s not true. Kreider did not throw Tkachuk’s mouthguard into the crowd,” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Wednesday’s edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “It went straight up and it landed on the ground. He may have been trying to do it but he failed in his attempt.”
That miss likely saved Kreider some time off, according to co-host Jeff Marek.
“If he was trying to do it, he’s lucky he didn’t do it,” said Marek, citing Rule 53.5 of the NHL Handbook, which says: “A game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on a player who intentionally throws his stick or any part thereof or any object or piece of equipment outside the playing area.”
“He saved himself a game misconduct on that one,” added Marek.
So, because the mouthguard stayed in, so does Kreider for Game 5, which goes Thursday in New York (8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+), with the series tied at 2-2.