Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo EJECTED by SPEARING Lightning, forward Corey Perry, and will sit before NHL player safety hearing
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo was ejected from a game last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning for attacking forward Corey Perry.
After a scrum in front of the net with 2:40 remaining in the third period, Philly’s James van Riemsdyk tried to hit a shot when Michael Eyssimont grabbed it.
DeAngelo saw his teammate grabbed, but took things too far by throwing to Perry. Chaos ensued as DeAngelo was surrounded by Lightning players who started chasing him and piled on him, including Perry.
DeAngelo was sent into the box, given a five-minute major penalty and a game foul for his behavior.
A spearing penalty is assessed when a player sticks his hockey stick into another player, always with the intent to injure him. By rule, if a spear attempt fails to make contact, a player still receives a minor double penalty and spends four minutes in the penalty area.
If he makes contact, it’s an automatic major penalty and game misconduct, where the player is sent off and another teammate has to sit in the box for five minutes.
Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo (77) was ejected for spearing Tampa Bay’s Corey Perry
As a rule, harpooning occurs when a player stabs another player with the blade of the stick.
The spear results in a minor double if it doesn’t make contact, or in this case, a major penalty and game misconduct, which carries a five-minute power play and ejection.
In a postgame press conference, DeAngelo said he challenged Perry to a fight, but the Lightning forward declined.
He tried to cut my cane from my hands a second before. He talks the whole game,” DeAngelo said. ‘I asked him to fight, he doesn’t want to fight.
He will tell you that he has asked me to fight for years. I’m not saying no, but she wasn’t trying to give it a chance. [where it landed]. The replay probably looks worse.
Flyers head coach John Tortorella said he did not watch the replay, but was told by players it seemed intentional.
“I haven’t seen the clip of what happened,” Tortorella said. The guys in the room said it was pretty obvious what happened.
‘That’s the line you walk, as far as going over the edge. I want him to have his personality, to have that competitiveness.
‘I sat down with a couple of guys, I wish a little bit of that rubbed off on them. But then again, I haven’t seen him, but I think he may have crossed the line.
“You have to be careful, and that’s easy to say,” Tortorella continued. “But that’s part of who Tony is, and I think he’s done a good job this year of staying on that line and competing.”
Perry (10) and his teammates went after DeAngelo, piling on him in retaliation.
DeAngelo has a history of controversial behavior, including physical and verbal abuse.
After the game, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that DeAngelo would have a hearing on his behavior, possibly to assess further punishment.
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to the likelihood of a suspension is DeAngelo’s history of questionable behavior, dating back to when he played junior hockey in Canada.
He was twice suspended from the Ontario Hockey League for violating its harassment, abuse and diversity policy by using unspecified slurs, with at least one to a teammate.
In Arizona, he was suspended for three games for physically assaulting an official and was fined nearly $15,000.
While with the New York Rangers, he famously got into a physical altercation with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, and was immediately placed on waivers by New York the next day.