On Friday night, the Calgary Flames played a pretty effective 60 minutes of hockey en route to a 4-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers.

But rather than enjoying the good vibes of a big win over a hated foe, thoughts were instead on the condition of Flames forward Connor Zary after an scary hit midway through the third period.

Just over 11 minutes into the third period and the Flames leading 2-1, Zary was pursuing a loose puck in the Florida zone, with Panthers forward A.J. Greer in pursuit. Greer momentarily got his stick tangled up with Zary’s body, triggering a delayed hooking penalty. Zary kept pursuing the puck as he and Greer neared the corner boards.

Greer gave Zary a shove at shoulder height, sending Zary careening down to the ice, where he very briefly slid and crashed head-first into the boards.

Zary was on the ice convalescing for a little while, as he was assessed on the ice by Flames head athletic therapist Kent Kobelka. Zary was able to get back to his feet and skate off under his own power, but he left the game and did not return.

“Terrible hit,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska following the game. “It was awful. So I don’t really have much else to say about that. But it just shouldn’t happen when someone’s in that position.”

Already called for hooking Zary earlier on that sequence, Greer was assessed a major for interference and a game misconduct on the play. The interference major was assessed under Rule 56.4: “The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence, to a player guilty of interfering with an opponent.” The major for interference automatically triggers a game misconduct under Rule 56.5.

Huska didn’t have an update on Zary’s status following the game, aside from noting he was “moving around fine.”

The Flames scored twice on the extended power play stemming from Greer’s seven minutes in penalties. After Tomas Nosek took a subsequent tripping minor on Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost scored on the five-on-three to give the Flames a 3-1 lead. Coronato scored on a breakaway a little later, giving the Flames a 4-1 lead.

Greer was previously suspended for one game in March 2023 for a cross-check on Mike Hoffman. He was fined this past October for a roughing incident in a pre-season game against Tampa Bay.

There have been no interference suspensions this season, but three players were suspended in 2024-25 for interference incidents: Tampa Bay’s Emil Lilleberg received two games for an incident with J.T. Compher, Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras received three games for an incident with Michael Rasmussen, and Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel received one post-season game for an incident with Aleksander Barkov.

The examination that the Department of Player Safety tends to utilize in these sorts of situations is whether or not it was a “hockey play,” whether or not a player could have done something different in the situation, whether or not the player receiving the hit changed their positioning to create a more dangerous situation, a player’s history, and whether an injury occurred on the play. Reasonable people can disagree, but it certainly seemed that Zary, pursuing the puck, didn’t change his trajectory or positioning during his pursuit, and that Greer made a pretty reckless play in a dangerous position on the ice.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see him sit for a game or two, but we’ll see what the NHL’s disciplinarians say when all is said and done.