NHL suspends Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand three games for slew footing Canucks' Oliver Ekman-Larsson

BOSTON – The NHL on Monday suspended Bruins forward Brad Marchand for three games for slew-footing Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson during Boston’s 3-2 victory a day earlier.

It is the seventh suspension of Marchand’s career. He will lose about $92,000 in pay.

Late in the first period of Sunday night’s game, the two players were pursuing the puck when Marchand hit Ekman-Larsson high and at the same time kicked the Canucks defensemen’s legs out from under him. No penalty was called at the time.

“What causes this play to rise to the level of supplemental discipline, the NHL Department of Player Safety said in a video on Monday, “ is Marchand’s use of both his upper and lower body to take Ekman-Larsson to the ice in a dangerous fashion, and the speed in which the players are traveling toward the boards.”

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Marchand’s history, which includes a two-game suspension for slew-footing in 2015, also played a role.

He was in the news, too, last week when New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin threw a glove at him while both were on the bench. 

"I didn’t really understand what he said in the moment because we had a little conversation with bad energy," Panarin said. "Then I hear something about Russia in that moment, and then with that energy, that can’t be something good about Russia. So, that's why I lose my mind and then I did what I did."