The NHL Players’ Association says it has filed an appeal of Morgan Rielly’s five-game suspension for cross-checking.
The league’s department of player safety banned the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman on Tuesday for his cross-check to the head of Senators forward Ridly Greig in the dying moments of Ottawa’s 5-3 victory over the weekend.
Rielly, who was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct, lunged at Greig up high after the centre fired a slapshot into an empty net from close range with 5.1 seconds left in regulation.
Greig wasn’t injured on the play.
Toronto picked up a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues without Rielly on Tuesday. The 29-year-old will be eligible to return to the lineup when the Leafs visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 22.
A suspension appeal of five games or fewer is heard by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, whose ultimate ruling is final.
The Leafs held the Blues to 15 shots on goal Tuesday and had a hat trick from an unexpected source, Bobby McMann.
McMann was playing only because forwards John Tavares and Mitch Marner were scratched because of illness.
“I thought the guys played well,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Played a pretty simple game, which was required especially once we got the lead. We needed guys to step up in different ways. I thought we got a lot of great efforts tonight, and then Bobby [McMann], two huge goals for us and a cool empty netter to finish it off. Terrific end to kind of a strange day for us quite honestly with our lineup uncertainty.”
Keefe added that McCann didn’t know for sure he was going to play until he arrived at the arena.
“I basically anticipated that I was going to be out tonight based on the lineup at practice [on Monday],” McMann said. “But still tried to take care of business, take care of the body. You never know when you are going to be called upon.
“I felt like I was ready this morning, and Keefe let me know some guys were sick and I would likely be playing, so at that point I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go through my regular routine,’ and did just that.”
Consistency has been a problem for the Maple Leafs and they face another test against the Flyers, who have won four in a row.
The Flyers overcame a 3-2 deficit after two periods to defeat the visiting Arizona Coyotes 5-3 Monday.
Flyers coach John Tortorella was confident that his team could come back in the game and told that to the players before the third period.