For the second time this week, Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen was ejected from a game after receiving a major penalty for boarding (and a game misconduct). Will he face supplemental discipline stemming from an incident in Saturday night’s game against the Calgary Flames?

Late in the second period, Rantanen delivered a forceful hit to Flames forward Matt Coronato as he was playing the puck along the boards in the Dallas zone. Coronato had his back to Rantanen and took the hit in the numbers, falling forward face-first and then leaving the ice bleeding heavily from his face.

Jonathan Huberdeau jumped into the fray, engaging Rantanen in a fight following the hit.

When the dust settled, Rantanen received a boarding major and a game misconduct, along with a fighting major. Huberdeau, for his part, received a fighting major, an instigator minor and a 10-minute misconduct.

The Flames ended up beating Dallas by a 3-2 score after a shootout.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska was asked his opinion of the hit after the game.

“I thought it was a terrible hit,” said Huska. “We’ve seen it. Didn’t we just see that on TV? I didn’t think it was a good hit at all.”

It was the second time this week that Rantanen had received a major penalty for boarding. Late in Tuesday’s game between the Stars and New York Islanders, Rantanen was ejected for a hit on Islanders defenceman Alexander Romanov. Romanov was injured on the sequence and hasn’t played since.

Coronato received several stitches to close the cut on his nose and returned to the game early in the third period.

“Kent [Kobelka, head athletic therapist] came in between periods, said they were working as quick as they could on him,” said Huska. “It was a pretty big cut that he had, and they had to do a lot of repairs to it. So he’s a good hockey player, is the way I can put it. He wanted to get back on the ice, try to help the team win.”

The big question following the game, particularly given that Rantanen had been involved in a similar incident this week, was whether Rantanen will be facing any supplemental discipline for the hit on Coronato. Earlier this season, Tampa Bay’s J.J. Moser was suspended for two games for boarding Florida’s Adam Boqvist on a somewhat similar play – Boqvist was playing the puck along the end-boards and Moser hit him from behind in a vulnerable position.

The justification for not giving Rantanen a suspension or fine would probably be something along the lines of “Hey, Coronato changed body position before the hit.” That being said, Rantanen was pursuing Coronato for several seconds before the hit and was looking at his numbers for awhile, Coronato’s body movement didn’t substantially change while Rantanen was throwing that hit, and as the person initiating contact, it’s up to Rantanen not to blast a player in the numbers.

The league’s stance seems to be: you’re allowed to throw hits, but if a guy is in a vulnerable position along the boards it’s up to the guy throwing the hit not to cause a dangerous situation with a hit.

Based on the nature of the hit, and Rantanen’s week featuring a similarly scary-looking hit already, we think Rantanen will get a couple games for this one.

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