Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon has been fined $5,000 for a cheap shot cross-check late in the third period of Minnesota’s 4-0 playoff loss to the St. Louis Blues Monday night.
“Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for Cross-checking St. Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich,” the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Tuesday morning.
Trailing by four goals with 1:46 left in the third period, Spurgeon slammed his stick into the back of Pavel Buchnevich’s left leg, after the Blues winger had slid onto his knees during the play. Spurgeon was tagged with a two-minute minor penalty and Buchnevich wound up playing on the ensuing power play.
look at this TRASH pic.twitter.com/LB6qjXlMBi
— Tony X (@soIoucity) May 3, 2022
Spurgeon had only 10 penalty minutes in 65 games during the regular season, and he was runner-up a season ago for the Lady Byng Trophy, which is awarded to one player every season for exhibiting “the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct with a high standard of playing ability.”
The Wild meet the Blues for Game 2 at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in St. Paul.
