Senators’ Hayden Hodgson ejected for boarding Kings’ Brandt Clarke

Ottawa Senators forward Hayden Hodgson was assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke during Thursday’s game at Crypto.com Arena.

Hodgson, 30, sent Clarke flying into the boards with a hard, forceful check from behind at the 11:15 mark of the second period on Thursday. The other Kings players on the ice immediately took exception, while Clarke was slow to get to his feet and ultimately left the game with an upper-body injury.

Kings forward Erik Haula was assessed a two-minute roughing penalty for his role in the ensuing melee, but the Kings still ended up with a power play, on which Artemi Panarin scored his eighth goal of the 2026-27 season to put the home side up by a 5-1 score.

An undrafted 6’2″ winger from Windsor, Ont., Hodgson has spent the majority of his professional career to date in the AHL and ECHL. Thursday’s game was the 24th of his NHL career, and his 17th with the Senators.

Hodgson has primarily served as an enforcer across his time with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Ontario Reign, and Belleville Senators. He amassed 134 penalty minutes but just 11 points in 47 games with Belleville during the 2025-26 AHL regular season; he was also suspended multiple times for illegal hits and other aggressive on-ice behavior.

After scoring a goal and two assists in his first six NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2021-22 season, Hodgson has not recorded a single point in 18 games over parts of four NHL campaigns since. He has, however, racked up 51 penalty minutes in his brief NHL career to date.

Off goals by Panarin, Haula, Joel Armia, Trevor Moore, and Mikey Anderson, the Kings remained ahead by a 5-1 score after two periods of play in Thursday’s game in Los Angeles. Tyler Kleven opened the scoring for the Senators in the first period before the Kings rattled off five consecutive goals.