(UPDATE: Lomberg has been automatically suspended for one game and Flames head coach Bill Peters has been fined $10,000, per the NHL Department of Player Safety, as per rule 46.22, Instigating in the Final Five Minutes of Regulation. He’ll also have a hearing today for “a legal line change for the purpose of starting an altercation.” That could end up being a fine or multi-game ban. In other discipline news from the game, Mark Giordano will have a hearing today for kneeing Mikko Koivu.)
A wild finished between the Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild saw a massive (questionable?) hit, an ejection and a seven-minute power play on Thursday.
A heated contest came to a head with under a minute left in the third period with the Flames holding a 2-0 lead.
Wild defenseman Matt Dumba stepped up in the Flames zone and delivered a hit to Mikael Backlund. There are a couple of angles to watch. One of them shows Dumba jumping into the hit and the other shows his shoulder hitting Backlund square in the face.
Here’s the tape:
Backlund was forced out of the game and could be out for a while, according to Sportsnet’s John Shannon.
Appears he was in concussion protocol, as well.
#Flames C Mikael Backlund, by the way, was in the quiet room when head coach Bill Peters went to go check on him. Absorbed a hit from Matt Dumba late in Thursday's 2-0 win over the #Wild.
— Kristen Anderson (@KdotAnderson) December 7, 2018
The Flames didn’t take too kindly to the hit and Ryan Lomberg came off the bench on a line change and made a b-line right to Dumba, jumping him and getting one punch in before the refs piled on top of the two.
Lomberg got two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct for his efforts. The power play for Minnesota didn’t amount to anything as Mike Smith stood tall for the 31-save shutout.
Dumba was not penalized on the play.
Boudreau on Dumba hit: "It was a good hockey hit to me. ... [Lomberg] comes flying off the bench. I don't know if he was sent out or not because he's certainly not playing the last minute & a half of the game no matter what the score is. We’ll have to let the NHL make a decision"
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) December 7, 2018
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck