Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler was in the midst of hunting down a puck when a goalie skated into his path.
Edler, who has been in the NHL for six years, will serve a two-game suspension after smashing Coyotes’ netminder Mike Smith to the ice with less than two minutes left in the second period of Friday night’s 2-1 Canucks victory. The Vancouver defensemen chased down after the loose puck, but in doing so, committed full body contact with the defenseless goalie behind the net.
The NHL charging rule states that “a goalkeeper is not ‘fair game’ just because the goalie is outside of the goal crease.”
Check out the brutal hit in the video below.
