The St. Louis Blues might once again be playing a Stanley Cup Final game short-handed — and not because of injury.
Blues forward Ivan Barbashev will have a hearing Friday for an illegal check to the head of Bruins winger Marcus Johansson, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced. The hit came in St. Louis’ 2-1 win over Boston on Thursday night in Game 5.
The hit, despite coming 10 to 15 feet in front of one of the referees, went unnoticed by the officials during the game, a fact that was among the handful of officiating complaints passed out by Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy after the game. Bruins defenseman Torey Krug also appeared to get hit high during Boston’s loss.
The NHL DOPS already handed down supplemental discipline earlier in the series when Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist was suspended one game for an illegal hit to the head on Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk in Game 2. Grzelcyk suffered a concussion and has yet to return to the ice. Johansson avoided a similar fate, but he did have to leave the game for a bit before ultimately returning.
