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Center Joe Thornton might be looking at supplemental discipline from the NHL right when the Sharks will be trying to battle back from a series deficit against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Monday morning, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced it would hold a hearing with Thornton for his hit on Tomas Nosek in the second period of Sunday’s Game 3. Vegas won the game 6-3 and will take a 2-1 series lead into Tuesday’s Game 4.
As Nosek skated back toward the Golden Knights’ end line, fighting off a check from Brenden Dillon, Thornton came in from behind the Vegas net and clipped Nosek’s head with his left shoulder.
Nosek had just released the puck and was not looking for the hit.
Joe Thornton ▶️▶️▶️ Tomas Nosek#HfHits
Fleury was ready to fight him for this one. Didn’t happen. 😔 pic.twitter.com/eJIpqi78mY
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) April 15, 2019
Thornton was given an illegal check to the head minor penalty for the infraction at the 16:54 mark of the second. Nosek’s first shift back was at the 1:07 mark of the third period.
“I honestly thought I barely touched him,” Thornton said Sunday. “He just came right back; it was just one of those plays that it is what it is. I think my son hits me like that six times a day, it’s just a weird position to put himself in. That’s all.”
Thornton doesn’t have a recent or long history of suspensions. In Nov. 2010, he was given two games for a hit to the head of David Perron, then with the St. Louis Blues. In March, he and Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves were each fined $2,500 for high-sticking.
“They will look at it for sure,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said Sunday. “There is no doubt. Definitely a high hit to the head and they will look at it. We will see what happens.”
Losing Thornton for any length of time would be a huge blow to a Sharks team that has already been beset by injury. Marc-Edouard Vlasic was injured in Friday’s Game 2 after he blocked a shot from Shea Theodore and did not play Sunday. Forward Micheal Haley was injured Sunday, also from blocking a shot by Theodore. When either player might return is uncertain.
Thornton has a goal and two assists in three games this series. He finished the regular season with 51 points in 73 games, and had 26 points in 30 games after the NHL All-Star break, when his line with Kevin Labanc and Marcus Sorensen was arguably the Sharks’ most consistent.
Thornton was upset that no high sticking call was given to Jon Merrill with just over two minutes left in the first period, as it appeared Merrill’s stick clipped Thornton’s face at the side of the Golden Knights’ net.
At that point, the Sharks were trailing 2-1. After goals by Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty gave the Golden Knights a two-goal lead 12-plus minutes into the game, Thornton assisted on Labanc’s first goal of the playoffs at the 15:16 mark of the first period.
