Florida Panthers defenceman Dmitry Kulikov is set to have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday for an illegal check to the head of Lightning forward Conor Sheary.
The play in question happened early in the 2nd period of the Panther’s 5-3 loss to the Lightning on Saturday. Kulikov caught Sheary in the head in front of Tampa Bay’s crease area, resulting in a 5 minute major and a match penalty.
Sheary would briefly return to the Lightning locker room for a medical assessment before returning to the bench.
The veteran NHL defenceman has 16 points (all assists) across 64 games for the Panthers in 2023-24, while averaging 16:22 of ice time per contest. Kulikov also has 70 blocked shots and 121 hits in his 8th season with the club.
The Russian blue liner was previously suspended for 4 games in 2014-15 for a hit on Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin which resulted in a knee injury. As a repeat offender, it remains to be seen how many games Kulikov will receive for his latest transgression.
The Panthers are next in action on Thursday against the Nashville Predators in a 7:30pm ET showdown.
Photo: Sarah Connors. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.