NHL suspends Sundqvist of Blues for game against Bruins Grzelcyk | St. Louis Blues

Sundqvist will miss Game 3 Saturday at the Enterprise Center, while the Blues will play their first home game in the Cup Final since 1970.

"The league has made its decision and we must now prepare for the third game," Doug Armstrong, General Manager, told Post-Dispatch by SMS. "The depth has been a strength of this team and I am confident that Craig (Bérubé) players who will participate will be more than prepared for the task at hand."

Zach Sanford seems to be the next player. He has been a good player for the last 18 games of this playoff series of the Blues. Sanford has not played since Game 3 of the Blues Series 1 against Winnipeg on April 14th.

Sanford grew up in the Boston area and played college hockey at Boston College. Therefore, playing in the Stanley Cup against the Bruins would obviously be special.

As Armstrong has mentioned, one of the features of this blues team is the superior depth of its composition. it helped them to go that far. But playing a game without Sundqvist, and possibly also Robert Thomas and Vince Dunn, will test this depth.

"Yes, absolutely," said Ryan O'Reilly. "I think we have a great staff here, we have so many guys who can step in and do the job, obviously it's hard to lose key players like that, but we're confident we have a excellent group here and) as many guys who are able to intervene and have an impact ".

Sundqvist, 25, had a stellar regular season with 14 goals and 17 assists in 74 games. He has only two goals and seven assists in 70 previous NHL games with St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

During the playoffs, Sundqvist scored four goals, raised five assists and tied with the team leader at over-8. He is also a regular at the punishment unit.

"He plays an important role in our team," said captain Alex Pietrangelo. "He plays a lot of minutes in the evening and in the evening and in all situations."

But Pietrangelo expressed confidence in the fact that the Blues are handling this test.

"Well, he put us to the test last night and everything went well," he said, citing Wednesday's 3-2 overtime victory over the Bruins.

Embarrassed by a wrist injury, Thomas missed his first playoff game. Robby Fabbri played a leading role in his first action since the fifth game of the series in Dallas on May 3rd.

"So we had injuries all year round," Pietrangelo said. "Some guys have fallen and others have stepped in. You want to have depth for that exact reason. (Fabbri) enters the evening (Wednesday) and he played a fantastic match for us. is not easy to play at this level and play as he did. "

The Blues were also without the Dunn (head, mouth) defender who has missed five playoff games since he was hit in the face by a puck at the start of the third game of the conference's final. West against San Jose.

At a press session nearly eight hours before the Sundqvist NHL decision, Bérubé said Dunn was about to return Saturday against Boston.

"Yes, there is a chance," said Bérubé. "We'll see how he goes tomorrow."

But Berube gave a cryptic answer when asked what was Thomas's status.

"We'll have to see Robby Thomas," Bérubé said. "I'm not going to comment on Robby Thomas right now, just for the situation, but Dunn is near."

We did not know what Bérubé meant by "the situation", but now that Sundqvist is out of Saturday's game, the Blues may consider using Thomas against the Bruins. If that was the case, they would not need Sanford.

Justice is changing fast in the NHL. On Thursday morning, NHL Player Safety announced that Sundqvist would have a telephone hearing with the league. The hearing was held at 3 pm Thursday, or barely two and a half hours after returning from Boston to St. Louis

Five hours after the start of the hearing, the league announced the suspension.

Late in the first half of Wednesday's match, Sundqvist was sentenced to a two-minute minor match after hitting defenseman Matt Grzelcyk of Boston.

Grzelcyk had the puck in the corner behind the Bruins net and seemed to be losing ground after changing direction. He was falling on the ice when Sundqvist hit him from behind with his shoulder. Grzelcyk's head hit the glass and he fell on the ice.

Grzelcyk had to be helped out of the ice and did not return to the match. He spent part of Wednesday night at the hospital to undergo tests and an evaluation. He did not join the team in St. Louis on Thursday, which means he's almost certainly missing at least for the third and fourth games.

"He's in (concussion) protocol," said Boston coach Bruce Cassidy. "When we get a new update, we'll give it to you, obviously we'll list it from day to day … see how it goes from now on."

In a video explanation sent via the NHL's Twitter account on NHL player safety, the league explained that "the boarding rule requires the user to perform a check. the batter ".

While acknowledging that Grzelcyk adjusted the position of his body by playing on the puck. Grzelcyk "does not do it in a way that relieves Sundqvist of any responsibility for the nature of this hit".

The league said Sundqvist "adjusts his run, then strikes (Grzelcyk) forcefully from behind backwardly, pushing him violently into the glass and causing him an injury."

It was the league's decision that Sundqvist had time to react to Grzelcyk's move but reacted by "cutting through Grzelcyk's body", which resulted in a more powerful and direct attack on the upper body and head.