Burrows, Bieksa tossed from game vs. Predators

Photo Credit: Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports

Following a very strange series of events Vancouver Canucks veterans Kevin Bieksa and Alex Burrows were both assessed a game misconduct late in Tuesday night’s game oddly officiated game against the Nashville Predators. 

We’ll try and unpack what occurred after the jump.

This strange bit of officiating stems from this incident in which Burrows interfered with big Predators centre Paul Gaustad:

As Gaustad lay prone on the ice, Bieksa skated by him and appeared to beak him for selling the call. Presumably his misconduct stemmed from that. Gaustad would leave the game and didn’t return. The club didn’t have an update on his status after the contest. 

For this hit, which was a cheap hit for sure but not altogether different from the “staying in his lane” non-call that Winnipeg Jets defender Jacob Trouba coincidentally delivered on Burrows a week ago, Burrows was assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct.

Adding an additional layer of confusion: the penalty wasn’t called by either referee, as the linesman stepped in and made the call instead. 

“(I) felt like we collided more than anything, but you never want to see someone go down,” Burrows said of the incident following the game, by way of Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy. “My intentions weren’t to hurt him.

“I hope he’s okay,” the Canucks winger added, before proceeding to softly criticize the fact that he was assessed a major penalty.

“I was surprised it was a five-minute penalty, but the boys battled hard and we got a huge win tonight,” Burrows said.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Department of Player Safety handles this sequence of events following Tuesday night’s game. Burrows is a repeat offender and has already been suspended for three games this year as a result of a rule 48 violation, so he’s not due much in terms of getting the benefit of the doubt.

Bieksa meanwhile had already delivered a questionable hit in Tuesday night’s contest, and the optics of him mocking an injured player – if that is in fact what occurred – surely won’t help his case.