Brandon Prust suspended two games for breaking Derek Stepan’s jaw
By Josh Hill
One of the biggest moments in the Montreal Canadiens Game 3 win over the New York Rangers was when Brandon Prust destroyed the jaw of Derek Stepan on a late hit that went uncalled by the officials. But while the hit at the time when unpunished, the league has stepped in to try and calm the storm.
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According to ESPN, the NHL has suspended Habs winger Brandon Prust two games for doling out a hit that broke the jaw of Derek Stepan. To his credit, the Rangers center returned to the game despite having a broken jaw and played the rest of the way but that may be something we don’t see moving forward.
As for Prust, we for suer won’t be seeing him moving forward as he will have to sit out until Game 6 drops the puck next week. We similarly won’t be seeing Daniel Carcillo for the rest of the postseason as he’s been handed a 10 game ban from the NHL for his retaliatory hit on not Prust, but the linesman who was escorting him to the penalty box.
Carcillo’s earliest return date is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals while the guy who broke someone’s jaw will be back before the end of this series, should it last that long. The hit wasn’t a total cheap shot, but it was indeed late and was apparently high enough to break Stepan’s jaw.
The 10-game suspension for Carcillo hurts the Rangers, but they can maybe try to make it up by closing out the Habs in two more games as they’ll be without Prust for that duration.