McDavid: Pietrangelo's late slash on Draisaitl was 'intent to injure'
Published
Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo was ejected from his team's Game 4 loss for a late slash on Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl after he attempted an empty-net shot.
Draisaitl threw the puck wide of the net in the third period and four seconds later was slashed on the left arm by Pietrangelo.
The incident led to Connor McDavid exchanging gloved punches with Pietrangelo, who received a five-minute major penalty for slashing and a 10-minute misconduct with less than 90 seconds remaining.
"You would like to see it reviewed for sure. I'd like to see it suspended," McDavid said post-game. "It was as intent to injure as you can get. That was not a hockey play."
"If you're asking my opinion on that play, I would not define it as a hockey play," Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft added. "And I'll leave it at that."
The Oilers tied the series at 2-2 with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday. Draisaitl leads all players in the postseason with 13 goals and 18 points, having added an assist to his totals in Game 4.
While the Oilers are hoping to see discipline for Pietrangelo, their team could also be receiving a call from the Department of Player Safety on Thursday.
Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse is facing a potential one-game suspension after receiving an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of Game 4. Nurse received the additional penalty after dropping the gloves with Nicolas Hague in the game's final minute.
The automatic suspension can be overturned upon review and Woodcroft argued after Wednesday's game that it should be.
"I saw the play going on, I saw Darnell wrap somebody up and I saw their player with his gloves off first," Woodcroft said. "So to me, that's two willing combatants. It's not like someone was turtled up into a ball.
"I thought it started with [Hague] having his gloves off first and he threw the first eight punches."
TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger notes that Pietrangelo receiving a one or two-game suspension for the slash and Nurse's one-game suspension being upheld is the most likely scenario on Thursday.
While both teams await their potential discipline, the series will return to Vegas for Game 5 on Friday with both teams looking to seize a 3-2 lead.