(UPDATE: Lemieux will have a hearing on Monday afternoon.)
The Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers wrapped up their two games in Finland (aka The Global Series) with tensions really starting to flare.
After the Jets won on the strength of Patrik Laine’s hat trick on Thursday, the Panthers rallied for a 4-2 win on Friday, with a violent span possibly serving as the turning point. Brendan Lemieux received a match penalty for an ugly hit on Vincent Trocheck, which prompted a Lemieux - MacKenzie Weegar fight.
(You can watch that exchange in the video above this post’s headline.)
The score was 2-2 at the time of Lemieux’s hit. Despite Weegar receiving an instigator penalty that abbreviated Florida’s power-play opportunity, the Panthers still scored on the ensuing man advantage. Keith Yandle’s tally ended up standing as the game-winning goal, ensuring that the Panthers would leave Finland with two standings points.
Lemieux also received a high-sticking penalty in Friday’s game, which opened the door for a Mike Hoffman power-play goal. That’s a pretty brutal bit of work for Claude Lemieux’s son, who collected those two costly infractions despite logging just 4:41 in ice time.
TSN’s Frank Seravalli points out that Lemieux’s match penalty will automatically get a look from the NHL:
Match penalty for Lemieux comes with automatic indefinite suspension pending commissioner review. https://t.co/GAd0jsOn7c
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) November 2, 2018
This marked just the 18th NHL game of Lemieux’s career, as the 22-year-old has largely followed in his father’s footsteps in the AHL. Despite some considerable draft pedigree (31st pick of the 2014 NHL Draft), moments like these won’t help the young forward’s chances of consistently cracking a loaded Jets lineup.
Even ignoring his genes, this outcome probably shouldn’t be too shocking:
Lemieux took part in 51 AHL games last year. He was assessed 170 penalty minutes and earned himself a misconduct 7 times.
— 𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙 🦋 (@timmerpeg) November 2, 2018
So, does he deserve to be suspended? If so, for how long? Either way, Lemieux didn’t endear himself to his opponents or his own team with that hit, and the penalty that resulted.
In other news, Roberto Luongo returned to the Panthers’ lineup a little bit earlier than expected, making 32 out of 34 saves for an impressive victory. He had no chance on Patrik Laine’s fourth goal in two games in Finland, but was otherwise very sharp.
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.