NHL fines Coyotes’ Schmaltz for hit on Simek

San Jose Sharks defenseman Radim Simek dressed for Saturday night’s game with Arizona, avoiding a more serious injury on what coach Bob Boughner thought was a reckless play by Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz.

Simek was injured midway through the third period of Friday’s game as he was pushed from behind into the end boards by Schmaltz. Simek went shoulder-first into the wall, left the ice, and did not return in what turned into a 5-2 Sharks loss to the Coyotes at Gila River Arena.

For the hit, Schmaltz was given a two-minute minor for boarding and on Saturday, fined $5,000 by the NHL, the maximum allowable under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

“I didn’t like the hit,” Boughner said. “I’m glad the league stepped up there. I think that it was more of a hit but a push, and when a guy is in a vulnerable position. Now we have a player today who may not play tonight, who’s pretty stiff after that. I think that’s a dangerous, dangerous play.”

Simek has played in 27 of the Sharks 33 games so far this season. He missed two games at the start of the season with knee issues, and missed four games last month with an upper-body injury after a bodycheck from Jonathan Marchessault of the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 13.

SECOND TO ONE >> Patrick Marleau dressed in his 1,756th career NHL game Saturday night, tying him with Mark Messier for the second-most games played in league history.

Barring anything unforeseen, Marleau will pass Messier on Monday when the Sharks host the Minnesota Wild. Marleau will then be just 10 games behind Gordie Howe, who holds the league record with 1,767 games played over a 26-season NHL career.

In his own 25-year NHL career, Messier, 60, won the Stanley Cup six times, was a twotime Hart Trophy winner as the league’s MVP, and is third all-time in league history with 1,887 points.

Messier was a first-team NHL all-star four times, and has a league award for leadership is named in his honor. He is the only player in league history to be captain of two teams that won the Stanley Cup (Edmonton Oilers, 1990; New York Rangers, 1994). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

Messier began his NHL career in 1979 and retired in 2005, and likely would have passed Howe on the all-time games played list had there not been NHL work stoppages in 1994 and the duration of the 2004-05 season.