When the Wild puts its five-game winning streak on the line Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver, it will be doing so without one of its top six defensemen.
Carson Soucy was suspended for one game for his hit on Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland during Minnesota's 3-0 victory Tuesday night, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Wednesday. Soucy, who received a five-minute major penalty for charging, will miss the opener of a two-game series at Colorado.
In explaining its reasoning for the suspension, the player safety department said in a video that Soucy "elevated unnecessarily, launching up and into a check that makes significant contact with Garland's head.''
Soucy also will forfeit one game's pay, $23,706.90, and the money will go to the NHL's Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. The player safety department noted that Soucy had been neither fined nor suspended previously in his 80-game NHL career.
The Wild killed off Soucy's first-period penalty on the way to matching the franchise record with its eighth consecutive home victory.
"It goes by really slow when you're sitting in there [the penalty box] all by yourself and these guys are grinding out there,'' Soucy said, referring to the Wild's penalty killers. "I know [Ian Cole] took one right in the hand, but they sacrificed and obviously did a great job.''
The Coyotes took offense to Soucy's hit, and forward Lawson Crouse grabbed Soucy when he returned to the game, knocked him to the ice and began raining punches on him. Crouse was ejected for instigating the fight, while Soucy received five minutes for fighting.
"I would have liked a chance to be ready for it,'' Soucy said. "I understand he's sticking up for a teammate, but I'm not going to say no. … I would just like him to give me a chance to not be almost changing on the bench, but he's protecting his guy.''
