All about misconduct penalties in the NHL
The NHL is one of the most brutal and physical sporting leagues, not just in North America, but the entire world over. Physicality is a top attribute when playing ice hockey, and the game needs to be kept in check every now and then lest it get completely out of hand.
The fast-paced sport takes a toll on the bodies of players, and tempers fly even with a simple nudge as adrenaline kicks in and teams fight for positions, turnovers, and, of course, ways to score goals. The league is well-known for players fighting it out in the middle of the ice rink, but certain limitations have to be imposed, otherwise, things could escalate rather quickly.
And, in order to do just that, there are various types of penalties in the NHL. Judging by the infringement, referees hand out minor penalties, major penalties, and misconduct penalties. While most fans are familiar with the minor and major penalties, let us explore more about misconduct penalties.
A misconduct penalty in the NHL, as the name suggests, is one of the more severe penalties with higher consequences for the player and team it is handed out to. In the NHL, there are two different types of misconduct penalties, the first one being a 10-minute misconduct penalty and the second one being a game misconduct penalty.
When a ten-minute misconduct penalty is slapped on a player, it is similar to other penalties in the sense that the player has to sit out of the game for a duration of 10 minutes. Generally, this penalty is handed out near the end of the regulation period of the game, and the player(s) is/are sent to the dressing room. If the game goes into overtime, the player(s) can return to the game.
A ten-minute misconduct penalty is usually paired with other penalties, such as a fighting major penalty, continuing to fight after the fight is broken up, or if officials believe the player needs to calm down. Moreover, the team is allowed to substitute another player immediately, resulting in no power play.
“In the event of misconduct penalties to any players except the goalkeeper, the players shall be ruled off the ice for a period of ten (10) minutes each. A substitute player is permitted to immediately replace a player serving a misconduct penalty. A player whose misconduct penalty has expired shall remain in the penalty box until the next stoppage of play.”
As per section 22.1 in the NHL’s official rulebook.
A game misconduct penalty is even more severe, and it leads to the player(s) being ejected from the game. These penalties are usually a result of illegal hits and are paired with five-minute major penalties in case of injury caused by the hit.
Game misconduct penalties also allow another player to be substituted immediately, unless a five-minute major penalty is also applied. In that case, another player is sent to the penalty box to serve out the 5 minutes of the ejected player.
“A game misconduct penalty involves the suspension of a player for the balance of the game but a substitute is permitted to replace the player removed. Ten minutes are applied in the league records to the player incurring a game misconduct penalty.”
As per section 23.1 in the NHL’s official rulebook.
The record for the most penalty minutes in an NHL game is from the 2003-04 season when the Ottawa Senators played the Philadelphia Flyers.
Played on March 05, 2004, the Flyers won the game 5-3, but both teams set the record for the most combined penalty minutes in the history of the NHL with 419. The Flyers had 213 penalty minutes while the Senators had 206.
As for the individual player record, we have to go all the way back to March 11, 1979, in a game played between the Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Randy Holt received 9 penalties in that game for a total of 67 minutes.
The Edmonton Oilers took a total of 85 minutes’ worth of penalties in their Game 3 loss against the Florida Panthers. That meant the Oilers had the third-most penalty minutes in a game in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals. As a matter of fact, it was the most number of penalty minutes since all the way back in 1996.
The Oilers received 75 penalty minutes in the 3rd period alone with as many as 5 players receiving a 10-minute misconduct penalty, including Darnell Nurse, Trent Frederic, Mattias Ekholm, Evander Kane, and Kasperi Kapanen.
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Game 3 was well and truly over long before these penalties came into play, which means they most probably resulted due to frustration over the Oilers’ crushing loss in what has otherwise been a highly competitive series thus far. Nevertheless, Edmonton will have to keep its cool in the upcoming game or else it could be facing a huge 1-3 hole heading into Game 5.
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