Boston Bruins’ left winger Taylor Hall fined $5,000 for roughing

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has fined Boston Bruins left winger Taylor Hall $5,000 for roughing Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin.

The incident occurred in Tuesday night’s game between the Bruins and Leafs when Lyubushkin hit Hall into the boards and Hall retaliated with a punch to the back of the head. Hall did get a penalty in the game for it, which the Leafs proceeded to score on.

It was already getting physical at that point in the game, as the Leafs had run up the score to 6-1, and an embarrassed Bruins team responded with aggressiveness. The Bruins ended up scoring a few goals to get back in the game, but it was too late for any real comeback to happen.

Hall is having a bounce-back season with Bruins, with 15 goals and 50 points in 66 games. This comes after a season with the Buffalo Sabres where he had just two goals and 19 points in 37 games before getting dealt to the Bruins at the deadline and getting eight goals and 14 points in just 16 games with the team. He signed a four-year extension with the Bruins in the 2021 offseason.

Lyubushkin was one of three Leafs players injured Tuesday, as goaltender Petr Mrazek hurt his groin in the first period during a play, and defenseman Justin Holl was bloodied after taking a puck to the face. There are currently no updates from the team about any of those players’ statuses going forward.