A dangerous hit by A.J. Greer did not go unpunished.
In the third period of Friday night’s matchup between the Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames, Greer shoved Connor Zary from behind.
Zary went into the boards headfirst and stayed down on the ice while being attended to by Calgary’s trainers. He was able to get up and skate off under his own power, but immediately headed to the locker room.
Greer had also hooked Zary right before the hit, so he received a two-minute minor for that in addition to a five-minute major and a game misconduct for interference, which, after review, was confirmed by the officials and resulted in Greer’s ejection.
The hit will likely be reviewed by the league. Greer has previously been suspended once by the NHL Department of Player Safety for cross-checking in 2023.
“Terrible hit, it was awful,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska post-game. “So I don’t really have much else to say about that, but it just shouldn’t happen when someone’s in that position, ever.”
On the status of Zary, Huska added, “I don’t have an update. He’s moving around, he’s fine and all that stuff, but I don’t really have a real indication of what it is yet.”
Later in the final frame, a Panthers player left the game with an injury after Niko Mikkola and Ryan Strome collided in what appeared to be an accidental knee-on-knee. There was no penalty on the play, and Mikkola had to be helped off the ice.
The Flames ultimately beat the Panthers 4-1.
