Darnell Nurse to have hearing for jumping Roman Polak
The rookie defender is likely to see a short suspension. Maybe.
Darnell Nurse is set to have a hearing with the NHL thanks to instigating a fight, if you can call it that, with Roman Polak on Tuesday night. After Matt Hendricks went hard into the boards, a play Polak received a minor penalty for, Nurse went after the Sharks blue liner and beat him to a pulp before Polak even got his gloves off.
There are a few things to look at here. First, upon replay Polak's hit looked clean and Hendricks appeared to fall inadvertantly. I don't blame the officials for missing that, and Nurse certainly didn't know that at the time he went after Polak resulting in the following.
Yikes. It appears Polak didn't see this coming which probably explains why the fight was so lopsided. Our colleagues over at the Copper and Blue have a good piece on what this fight means for the Oilers (hint: nothing) and once the suspension is issued (or not issued) we'll be able to close the book on this for good.
Maybe. The Sharks and Oilers meet once more, this time at SAP Center, and retaliation may be on the mind of San Jose. Hopefully the Sharks let their play on the ice do the talking, but don't be surprised if Micheal Haley dresses for the finale.