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Report: No hearing for Michalek on Girardi kick

Milan Michalek

According to Renaud Lavoie of RDS, Ottawa Senators forward Milan Michalek won’t face any disciplinary hearing for allegedly kicking Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi on Monday night.

Video evidence of the incident has been hard to come by. This replay shows Girardi reacting angrily with a fallen Michalek in the vicinity, but no conclusive evidence of a direct kick.

So, why so much fuss about the play? Some of it stems from a similar play involving Jeff Skinner and Scott Nichol earlier this season, when Skinner used his skate to push off Nichol:

As the video states, Skinner was suspended two games for the action.

ESPN New York reported earlier today the league planned on reviewing the Michalek-Girardi incident while TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted the following:

Michalek 1

Michalek 2

Michalek 3

Dreger later said that, upon further consideration, there is a major difference between the two incidents: Skinner was reacting to a hit along the boards while Michalek was at the bottom of a pile.

Update: Here’s the explanation from NHL.com.

Ottawa forward Milan Michalek will not face supplemental discipline for using his skate to shove Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi during a pile-up of players in the crease late in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Monday night at Scotiabank Place. Senior Vice President of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan issued a warning that similar behavior will not be tolerated from Michalek in a phone call to Ottawa GM Bryan Murray on Tuesday afternoon.

Not sure why the phone call wasn’t placed to Michalek directly, but whatever.