Sounds like Vancouver forward Alex Burrows will have his instigator-related suspension from late in Sunday’s loss to Calgary rescinded, meaning he’ll be eligible to play Game 4.
The report, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, comes just hours after Burrows was given a five-minute fighting major, a two-minute boarding minor and the aforementioned instigator penalty following a scrap with Calgary d-man Kris Russell in Game 3:
Though NHL rules state that instigator penalties levied in the final moments of games can be grounds for suspension, it’s possible that Burrows’ ban was rescinded because he wasn’t judged to have been sending a message, or exacting retribution.
It’s also worth noting that the league has already rescinded an instigator penalty in this series -- the one called against Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland in the waning moments of Game 2.
Update: NHL confirms it:
(1) Upon standard review mandated by Rule 46. 22, NHL has determined that VAN's Alex Burrows shall not be suspended for Game 4 vs. Calgary.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 20, 2015
(2) Incident deemed "not related to the score, previous incidents in the game or prior games, retaliatory in nature, "message sending."
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 20, 2015
To be clear, we didn't rescinded the Instigator penalty. We only rescinded the 1 game suspension. Instigator remains on Burrows' record.
— Damian Echevarrieta (@Ech28) April 20, 2015