New York Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux will miss the first two games of the qualifying series, suspended by the NHL
Brendan Lemieux threw a dangerous, late check in the New York Rangers last game of the regular season and has waited about four months to find out his fate. Now he knows. It was a dumb play and it will cost the Blueshirts their most physical, agitating forward for two games that could well determine their playoff future.
Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux will miss the first two games of the Cup Qualifier series against the Hurricanes after being suspended by the NHL Department of Player Safety for interference against Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi on March 11.https://t.co/BMuKyyLgx0
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) July 20, 2020
We wrote about this play on March 14, calling out Lemieux for his lack of discipline in a play that could have cost the Rangers a playoff berth.
To refresh your memories, the Ranges were desperate for a win against the Avalanche, trailing Carolina and Columbus by three points and the Islanders by two points in the standings. They were behind, 2-1 with just under three minutes left in the game.
Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi took a shot, Alexandar Georgiev easily stopped and the play was over until Lemieux hit Donskoi in the head with his shoulder.
He was called for interference, putting the Rangers down a man for two of the last three minutes in a must-win game. All was forgotten when Pavel Buchnevich tied the game with 12 seconds left. The Blueshirts eventually lost in overtime, but they salvaged a point, a point that Lemieux did everything in his power to give away.
After posting that story, there were many, many comments. Some agreed that Lemieux takes too many unnecessary penalties and is also being targeted by the referees. Others felt that his grit and physical play overcomes his penchant for taking penalties. Most readers did feel that while he has issues, the Rangers need a player who plays his style. Some readers felt that the play wasn’t dirty at all and didn’t warrant a suspension. Those readers need to see the NHL’s official explanation of the hit and why he deserves a suspension. Click here to see that.
It was a dirty and unnecessary hit. It was compounded by the completely irresponsible timing and Lemieux was lucky his teammates bailed him out and scored to tie the game. It’s unfortunate that the regular season did not resume. If it had, he would have been suspended four or five games and it wouldn’t have affected the Rangers’ postseason.
Now, we have to sit back and see how the Rangers do in the two games he will miss. The hope has to be that his teammates will again bail him out and win those games. If not, the Rangers need to re-examine their roster and decide what his future is with the team. Is he a liability or does he have the potential to be a player like Washington’s Tom Wilson whose contributions outweigh his occasional lack of discipline? That’s up to John Davidson, Jeff Gorton and David Quinn to decide.