Devils' Stefan Noesen Likely Facing Major Suspension for Vicious Hit on Tage Thompson
The Buffalo Sabres rely on Tage Thompson to lead their team, and on Sunday, Stefan Noesen took him out with a hit that will likely result in a suspension.
Stefan Noesen has always been known as a player that's ready to lay out his body for a major hit, and on Sunday he took it to another level entirely with a hit on Buffalo's Tage Thompson.
With the score sitting at 4-2 in favour of the Sabres midway through the third period, Thompson had his head down in the middle of the ice when Noesen obliterated the talented young star, leaving him down on the ice for a significant time.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of all this was the reaction from Thompson's teammates, who simply stood around and did nothing about it, and while it's not the dirtiest hit we've seen in the NHL, it was clearly forceful to the head.
That resulted in Noesen receiving a match penalty, and more likely than not it will result in a hearing and a suspension from the NHL's Department of Player Safety.
Unsurprisingly, the reaction on social media has been to call out the Sabres, who simply didn't stand up for their star winger despite the fact that he was writhing in pain on the ice, with Noesen simply able to walk off the ice without any repercussions from Buffalo at all.
Ultimately, this hit will likely result in at least a two or three game suspension, as the hit was direct and forceful to the head, and while Thompson didn't have his head up, there's simply no excuses for hitting someone like this, as this is the exact type of hit the NHL are looking to get out of the league.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Paul Cotter | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Alexander Killorn | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Joel Armia | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Samuel Girard | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Hughes | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mason Marchment | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mason McTavish | 1 | - | 1 | |
| John-Jason Peterka | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Sillinger | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Frank Vatrano | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 54 | 37 | 14 | 3 | 77 | |
Capitals | 52 | 34 | 11 | 7 | 75 | |
Oilers | 52 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 68 | |
Golden Knights | 52 | 31 | 15 | 6 | 68 | |
Hurricanes | 53 | 32 | 17 | 4 | 68 | |
Stars | 51 | 33 | 17 | 1 | 67 | |
Wild | 53 | 31 | 18 | 4 | 66 | |
Panthers | 53 | 31 | 19 | 3 | 65 | |
Maple Leafs | 52 | 31 | 19 | 2 | 64 | |
Devils | 53 | 29 | 18 | 6 | 64 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||