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Video: Oilers’ Belov gets match penalty for questionable Giroux headshot

Anton Belov - Claude Giroux

The Philadelphia Flyers’ 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers wasn’t without some controversy.

At 7:59 of the third period with the Flyers holding a 2-1 lead, Oilers defenseman Anton Belov was issued a match penalty for delivering a blow to the head of Flyers captain Claude Giroux. While Giroux was uninjured on the play, Belov was sent off.

The catch here is it didn’t appear Belov made any contact with Giroux’s head. Check out the video here courtesy of CSN-Philly.

It appears Belov hits Giroux shoulder-to-shoulder and his head only flies back because of the force from the hit. Making matters worse for Edmonton, Giroux scored his first goal of the season a little over three minutes later while the teams were skating 4-on-4.

A match penalty means an automatic one-game suspension, pending league review. You’d have to think the league will wind up rescinding the penalty.

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