Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson has been suspended four games without pay by the NHL for his hit on Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine.
Andersson will lose nearly $95,000 in pay for the incident that occurred as the final horn sounded in the Blue Jackets’ 3-1 win on Friday in Columbus. Andersson lowered the boom on Laine as the latter was attempting to score into an empty net.
Andersson was whistled for a major penalty for elbowing on Laine, who did not travel with the Blue Jackets for their game against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The team said he is day-to-day.
The NHL said Andersson’s launch with his elbow toward Laine’s head, the force of the hit and that the game effectively was out of reach at the time “combined to elevate this hit to the level of supplemental discipline” in its video explaining the reasoning for the suspension on Saturday.
Andersson, 26, finished with a minus-3 rating on Friday. He has three points (one goal, two assists) in five games this season.
–Field Level Media