Montreal Canadiens’ forward Josh Anderson suspended two games for boarding

Montreal Canadiens’ forward Josh Anderson has been suspended for two games, per the NHL.

This Sunday evening has been a busy one for the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. First, Matthew Tkachuk was suspended a couple of games for high-sticking Jonathan Quick in the face. And now Josh Anderson has been assessed a similar punishment.

The incident in question occurred during the Saturday evening game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens. Midway through the third period, in a desperate attempt to will his team back into the game, Josh Anderson boarded Golden Knights’ defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

In an innocent play by the Vegas blueliner, he skated up the ice with the puck and nearly lost it along the boards. As he tried to regain possession, Anderson came out of nowhere and hit him from behind with excessive force. The hit caused Pietrangelo’s head to hit the boards at a sickening speed.

Anderson was immediately handed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. Pietrangelo never saw the hit coming and was thus unprepared to protect himself from it. Anderson was skating away from Pietrangelo when he changed course and rammed into him knowing full well that this was likely an illegal hit.

The key here is the force used in the hit. Many times throughout a game, a player is against the boards and an opposing player comes in and uses force to try to gain possession of the puck. But if the defending player has his back turned it is illegal to hit him with force into the boards.

These are the types of plays that get players injured and the NHL has a no-tolerance policy toward it. Due to the suspension, Josh Anderson will not receive his salary for the two games that he will miss. This will result in him losing out on tens of thousands of dollars.