Late in the second period of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena, Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel left the game after suffering an open-ice hit from Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers. Although it was a clean hit with Eichel catching the brunt of the collision in his right shoulder, he immediately left the ice without his helmet, which popped off after the impact.
As Jack Eichel skated off to seek medical attention, everyone else on the ice engaged with one another, resulting in 28 penalty minutes when players were finally separated. Initially, Tkachuk received 12 minutes, with two for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct for dropping the gloves with Golden Knights’ Ivan Barbashev, who also got assessed 12 minutes from the strum. Meanwhile, Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas) and Gustav Forsling (Florida) received roughing penalties.
After 40 minutes, the two teams have combined for 42 penalty minutes, and if the physicality continues, they could surpass 64 minutes from Game 1.
Surprisingly, at the start of the third, Jack Eichel was on the bench, meaning his potential injury wasn’t severe. During his first shift in the third period, he battled to keep the puck in the Panthers’ zone before setting up Jonathan Marchessault for the Golden Knights’ fifth goal of the contest and his second point of the contest.