CALGARY, AB – DECEMBER 22: Ivan Barbashev #49 of the St Louis Blues in action against the Calgary Flames during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 22, 2018 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
The National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety has hit Blues forward Ivan Barbashev with a one-game suspension for his first-period headshot to Bruins winger Marcus Johansson.
Ivan Barbashev with a high hit on Marcus Johansson.
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 7, 2019
Clean or dirty hit? ????#StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/lok8yHC3qD
The 23-year-old Barbashev was not hit with a penalty of any sort on the play, and finished the Game 5 victory with six hits in 15:32 of action.
Johansson, meanwhile, remained in the game and didn’t seem to have many thoughts he felt like sharing regarding the hit.
“A little bit, but it is what is,” Johansson, who has a lengthy concussion history, said when asked if he was surprised that there was not a penalty call. He concluded his media briefing with a “not much” when asked for his thoughts on the hit.
Barbashev is also now the second Blues player to be suspended in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
His linemate, center Oskar Sundqvist, was the first to get hit with a suspension, a one-game ban for his Game 2 boarding penalty against Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. Sundqvist returned to the St. Louis lineup in Game 4, while Grzelcyk has missed the last three games due to a concussion and was not cleared out of the protocol prior to Game 5.
The Bruins and Blues will skate in Game 6 on Sunday night at the Enterprise Center.
