Will the Flames face any supplemental discipline from Anaheim game?

Last night, the Calgary Flames lost 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. They played okay, but it was not a particularly good hockey game. The third period was dominated by physicality triggered by a hit by Flames captain Mark Giordano on Anaheim defender Cam Fowler that probably ended Fowler’s season.

Orange County Register writer Eric Stephens had these observations of that incident.

After the replay, Stephens revised his opinion somewhat.

While Giordano doesn’t have a reputation as being a dirty player, he does seem to lead with his knee on that hit… which does seem rather late and does result in an injury. Could the recklessness of the hit, the lateness and the injury result in Giordano getting a call from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety? While Giordano doesn’t have a disciplinary history, that combination of factors usually results in something.

Whether it does or not, the Fowler injury set off a powder keg. We had fights. Lots of fights. Matt Bartkowski was actually assessed an instigator penalty late in the third period for a skirmish he got into with Korbinian Holzer after Holzer attempted a wild check on Matthew Tkachuk.

Under Rule 46.22, a player getting an instigator in the last five minutes of a game is also given an automatic one game suspension pending a review of the incident by the league. The suspension is overturned if “…upon review of the incident, the Director of Hockey Operations, at his discretion, deems the incident is not related to the score, previous incidents in the game or prior games, retaliatory in nature, “message sending”, etc.”

The review of the incident is automatic, so we should hear back later today one way or the other regarding Bartkowski’s availability for tomorrow’s game in Los Angeles.