“Wednesday night in Calgary, Flames forward Connor Zary was penalized for extending his elbow to deliver a late, high retaliatory hit against Canucks defenceman Elias Pettersson. As the video shows, the Flames skate the puck through the neutral zone, with Pettersson defending and Zary on the rush in support. The puck is flipped towards the net, and Pettersson finishes a clean, hard check on the Flames player. Then, after the hit and disregarding the rest of the play, Zary tracks Pettersson, raises his elbow and forearm, and elevates upward into a check, striking Pettersson with the extended arm and making significant contact with Pettersson’s head.

“This is elbowing. It is important to note that this is not a case where a player’s sudden movements cause a hitter to reflexively extend an elbow in a way that turns a legal hit into an illegal one. On this play, Zary sees a teammate takes a hard but legal check, and responds intentionally in retribution by delivering a hit with his extended elbow that makes significant head contact and is delivered with requisite force for supplemental discipline. To summarize, this is elbowing. Zary has been neither fined nor suspended previously in his 112 game NHL career. The Department of Player Safety has suspended Connor Zary for two games.”