Polak suspended two games for hit on Bjorkstrand
TERRY KOSHAN
TORONTO SUN
The Maple Leafs will have to get by without Roman Polak into next week.
Polak on Thursday afternoon was suspended for two games by the National Hockey League’ department of player safety for his hit on Oliver Bjorkstrand of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
Polak, who previously had not been suspended nor fined in his NHL career, was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding on the play, which came at the one-minute mark of the third period. The Leafs were able to kill the penalty off and went on to win 5-2.
Polak missed Thursday’s home game against the New Jersey Devils and a road game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. He will be eligible to return to the Leafs lineup on Tuesday when the club plays host to the Florida Panthers.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock had indicated prior to the league’s decision that Alexey Marchenko would be called upon to take Polak’s spot in the lineup.
“Poly is a big body for us, hard to play against, even our forwards in practice are not excited about going against him,” Leafs defenceman Connor Carrick said prior to the announcement.
“He has brought that brand of hockey for a long time. Everyone is going to have to be a little more physical to make up for it.”
Polak will forfeit $25,000 in salary, as per terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“It is important to note that this is not a play where a sudden movement by a player turns a legal hit into an illegal hit immediately before contact is made,” the NHL said in its ruling.
“Polak is tracking Bjorkstrand from behind for some time. While we acknowledge that Bjorkstrand turns in a manner that makes this hit more dangerous and contributes to the violence of the hit, Bjorkstrand is not eligible to be checked by Polak on this play.
“The onus is on Polak to ensure he avoids this hit entirely, or at the very least minimizes the force of the impact. Instead Polak drives Bjorkstrand into the glass, causing an injury.”
Bjorkstrand did not travel with his teammates to Washington to face the Capitals on Thursday.
The Leafs also won’t have forward Eric Fehr for a while. In his Leafs debut in Columbus, Fehr suffered a suspected broken finger on his left hand.
“Don’t know,” Babcock said of the length of time he expects Fehr to miss. “He is not here. He stayed over night there, so when he comes back we will know more.”
Babcock said Josh Leivo, who has been a healthy scratch for the past 10 games, would take Fehr’s spot.
More immediately, the Leafs carried a 6-1-1 record in their past eight games into the Air Canada Centre Thursday as they hosted to the Devils, who just happen to occupy last place in the Eastern Conference.
“We know how important this game is,” forward James van Riemsdyk said.
“Every game, you can’t take your opponent lightly. You have to understand where the other teams are at, we know those guys have some pride over there and are playing for things like contracts, so you never expect teams to come out and roll over. We have to be ready to go.” tkoshan@postmedia.com twitter.com/ koshtorontosun