Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall will not receive any supplemental discipline from the NHL for his hit on Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson, who will miss Game 4 with a concussion.
The Hurricanes are going for a first-round sweep of the Senators on Saturday afternoon. Sanderson was the Senators' leading scorer among defensemen in the regular season with 54 points in 67 games.
In the second period of Carolina's Game 3 win Thursday night in Ottawa, Sanderson played the puck behind his own net. Hall arrived on the forecheck and delivered a hit in which his shoulder connected with Sanderson's head, knocking off the defenseman's helmet. Hall was given a two-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head with 15:36 left in the period.
Sanderson remained in the game until he took his last shift with 9:53 left in the second period, pulling himself from the game.
"He's not doing very well. Won't play tomorrow," Senators coach Travis Green said Friday.
Green was incensed after Game 3 that the on-ice officials didn't call a match penalty on Hall to review the hit, opting to just give the Carolina winger a two-minute penalty.
After Game 3, Green called Hall's check "a blatant hit to the head, the kind of hit you don't want to see." Green said he was "shocked" that Hall didn't receive supplemental discipline from the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Replays showed that Hall delivered a full body hit on Sanderson that included unavoidable head contact, given Sanderson's body position during the moment of impact. Green said the team will miss Sanderson, who had two points in three games, and that Sanderson will miss the chance to help his teammates stay alive in the Eastern Conference bracket.
"He's a competitive guy. He wants to play. He's a big part of our team, one of the better young defensemen in the league. It's a shame that he's out," Green said.
