There will be no hearing by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety (DoPS) for the hit made by Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd on Buffalo Sabres Eric Staal in Thursday night’s Capitals-Sabres game.
Being told DoPS will not issue any discipline for Nic Dowd’s hit on Eric Staal last night. There was no clear evidence the head was the main point of contact.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 15, 2021
The play in question occurred in the third period of last night’s game in Buffalo. Dowd was crossing center ice and cutoff Staal on the play. Dowd received a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head on the play. Staal would leave the game.
Dowd hits Staal in the head pic.twitter.com/Fnztvqur6j
— Ben Mathewson (Optimistic Sabres Fan) (@Ben_Mathewson) January 15, 2021
No hearing means there will be no supplemental discipline for Dowd, and thus, he is eligible to play in tonight’s second game of the back-to-back set.
Staal is currently listed as a game-time decision for Friday night’s game.
By Jon Sorensen
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Albeit the correct call, here. It’s still difficult to follow the “logic” of DoPS.