NHL Department of Player Safety Makes Official Ruling on Nikita Kucherov's Suspension Fate

Nikita Kucherov hit Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk with a disgusting hit on Monday, and now he's learned his fate from the NHL's Department of Player Safety after being handed a game misconduct penalty from the play.

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning played yet another thrilling clash on Monday night, with Tampa Bay blanking the defending champs as they picked up a dominant 4-0 victory behind 36 saves from the impressive Jonas Johansson.

The talking point coming out of that game however was Nikita Kucherov and his hit on Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, with the Lightning star taking out Tkachuk's knee in a brutal hit that saw him writhing in pain on the ice.

Deservedly so, the veteran star was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for the hit on Tkachuk, who would thankfully return to the ice later in the game to a huge standing ovation from the Panthers fans in attendance.

This isn't the end of the story however, as the play has now been reviewed by the NHL's Department of Player Safety, who have assessed the play and opted for no suspension for the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner.

While Kucherov certainly doesn't have a history of dirty plays like this, this incident was bad enough on its own to warrant a suspension, and while Tkachuk ultimately returned to the ice, this could have been a season ending injury for the Panthers superstar.

The NHL has always prided itself on being a very physical league that brings fans to the arena for the heavy physicality on the ice, but this just wasn't necessary, as Kucherov went at Tkachuk with the clear intention of taking out his knee, and as a result, he gets a warranted 'x' game suspension.

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