Saturday’s Nashville Predators-Colorado Avalanche game has been a rather physical meeting through the first two periods.
You had Filip Forsberg avoiding a major injury when he was flipped through the air on a low hit by Nikita Zadorov. Then Cody McLeod, in his first game against his former team, dropped the gloves with Jarome Iginla just 24 hours after they were teammates.
Then this happened.
Rene Bourque's hit on Viktor Arvidsson. #Preds #NSHvsCOL pic.twitter.com/vEFWT1Hbpe
— Thomas Willis (@TomAWillis) January 14, 2017
That is Avalanche forward Rene Bourque shoving Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson from behind, face-first, into the boards.
Bourque was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. Arvidsson briefly exited the game but ended up returning to the bench. It is a play that will almost certainly get a review from the NHL’s department of player safety, but whether or not anything more comes out of it is anybody’s guess. The fact that Arvidsson returned to the game and did not -- at this point -- have a major injury will probably help him. But Bourque is also a repeat offender and has been suspended multiple times in his career.