Fans calling for suspensions on Noel Acciari and Arber Xhekaj following the Juraj Slafkovsky injury
In the final moments of the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 win over the Canadiens on Saturday night tensions flared between both teams as major scrum broke out. Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj went after Noel Acciari seeking payback for an earlier hit on Juraj Slafkovsky.
During the game Acciari delivered several hard hits including one that caught Slafkovsky in the jaw forcing him to leave the ice.
With just minutes left Pittsburgh's coach Mike Sullivan sent Acciari back on the ice leading Xhekaj to confront him with an attempted knee on knee check. The collision sparked a heated exchange with both teams pushing & shoving until referees intervened.
Clips of the incident have since spread across social media where fans criticized Xhekaj for his knee on knee attempt.
The situation seemed ironic to many fans since just in September Xhekaj had harshly confronted Toronto's Cedric Pare in a preseason game after a knee on knee hit leaving Patrik Laine injured.
In that preseason clash after Laine was hurt Xhekaj immediately sought out Pare throwing a series of right handed punches that knocked Pare down until officials separated them. Xhekaj received a game misconduct penalty for instigating the fight.
While Laine is now sidelined with an ankle sprain expected to keep him out for two to three months Acciari emerged from Saturday's game uninjured. However fans on social media believe Xhekaj's intent was clear in the footage.
It remains to be seen whether the NHL will step in and hand out some fines or even suspensions which is also a possibility.
| POLL | ||
3 NOVEMBRE | 23 ANSWERS Fans calling for suspensions on Noel Acciari and Arber Xhekaj following the Juraj Slafkovsky injury Do you think the NHL will hand out a fine or a suspension for these actions? | ||
| No | 11 | 47.8 % |
| A fine or two | 1 | 4.3 % |
| A suspension or two will be handed | 8 | 34.8 % |
| Not sure | 3 | 13 % |
| List of polls | ||
