Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo has been suspended 2 games by the NHL for spearing Lightning forward Corey Perry below the belt on Tuesday.
Following a scrum in front of the net, DeAngelo skated in from the corner and delivered the blow to an unsuspecting Perry. The 27 year old was given a major penalty and a game misconduct as a result of the play.
After the game, DeAngelo doubled down on the incident by calling out Perry when asked by reporters what transpired. “He talks all game,” DeAngelo said, “I asked him to fight. He doesn’t want to fight. He’ll tell you he’s asked me to fight for years. I don’t say no.”
When reporters mentioned how things looked on the replay, the blueliner remarked “probably looks a bit worse than it was meant to be.”
Flyers coach John Tortorella toed the line between condoning and condemning the act following his team’s 5-2 loss. While he praised DeAngelo’s “competitiveness” he also added that he hadn’t seen the replay, eventually admitting “He may have crossed the line. You’ve got to be careful.”
With his two game ban, Philadelphia will be without DeAngelo for games against the Hurricanes and Penguins. The Sewell, NJ native currently leads all Flyers defensemen with 34pts (10G, 24A) through 59 contests. That’s good for 5th overall on a team that can ill afford to lose anymore players.
Currently sitting 2nd from last in the Metropolitan Division, Philadelphia has scuffled through the season to the tune of a 24-29-11 record. 14 points back of the final wildcard spot with only 18 games left to play, their hopes of making any kind of postseason push is all but over at this point.
DeAngelo will forfeit roughly $54K worth of salary while he sits out the club’s next two contests.
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