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Panthers’ Matheson to have hearing for slamming Pettersson

pettersson

The Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers won’t see one another again until the middle of January, but there will still be plenty of hard feelings following their Saturday night encounter.

Canucks’ stud rookie Elias Pettersson is in concussion protocol, per Sportsnet, after he was body-slammed to the ice early in the third period of Vancouver’s 3-2 victory by Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson.

Pettersson is now in concussion protocol as the team travels to Pittsburgh for a game on Tuesday. Matheson, meanwhile, will have a phone hearing Monday with the NHL Department of Player Safety for “interference and unsportsmanlike conduct.”

The Canucks weren’t thinking retribution following the hit. It was a 2-2 game and head coach Travis Green did not want his players running around and risking giving the Panthers power plays. After the game, though, they sounded off.

“That’s a dirty play,” said Green. “The league is trying to protect the good young players and that’s a dirty play.”

“It’s a long season, we’ll catch them back,” said Canucks forward Antoine Roussel.

The injury put a damper on an historic night for the 19-year-old Petterson. His goal made him the sixth player since 1997-98 to reach at least points in his first five NHL games. He currently has eight, which is one behind what Evgeni Malkin achieved during the 2006-07 NHL season. He also matched a Canucks record for most consecutive games (5) with a point. As of Sunday he leads all rookies in goals (5) and points (8).

UPDATE:

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.