The incident occurred during Saturday afternoon's game between Edmonton and Winnipeg. Vesalainen was skating towards the Oilers net, trying to get open to receive a pass, when Niemelainen cross-checks him in the face. Niemelainen was not assessed a penalty on the play.
Niemelainen, a native of Kuopio (Finland) has split his time this season between the Oilers and their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. In 12 games with the Oilers, he has no points, while in 23 games with Bakersfield, the 23-year-old has tallied seven points.
markus niemelainen, once again, showing no regard for human life. pic.twitter.com/qJiHd1nfo1— zach laing (@zjlaing) February 19, 2022
Edmonton's Markus Niemelainen has been fined $2,043.75, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for Cross-checking Winnipeg's Kristian Vesalainen.— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) February 20, 2022
G | A | PTS | ||
Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
Samuel Girard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Marco Rossi | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Matthew Boldy | - | 2 | 2 | |
Brandon Hagel | - | 2 | 2 | |
Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
Anze Kopitar | - | 2 | 2 | |
Cale Makar | - | 2 | 2 | |
Matthew Tkachuk | - | 2 | 2 | |
Devon Toews | - | 2 | 2 | |
Aleksander Barkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Justin Brazeau | 1 | - | 1 | |
Quinton Byfield | 1 | - | 1 | |
Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
Evgeny Dadonov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
Conference | Cumulative |