Chicago Blackhawks forward Drake Caggiula received a one-game suspension for his check to the head of Edmonton’s Tyler Ennis on Saturday.
The 12th-seeded Blackhawks defeated the fifth-seeded Oilers 6-4 in Game 1 of their best-of-five qualification-round series. Game 2 is Monday in Edmonton.
The incident occurred at 7:41 of the second period. Ennis released a pass and Caggiula approached for an open-ice check. The NHL’s department of player safety argued that Caggiula picked the head as his main point of contact on a play in which such contact was avoidable.
Caggiula did not receive a penalty on the play. Ennis briefly left the game, but was able to return for the third period.
Caggiula has played in 222 career games but has no prior history of fines or suspensions with the department of player safety. The 26-year-old joined the Blackhawks in the middle of the 2018-19 season via trade from the Oilers. Caggiula, a University of North Dakota graduate, played the first two seasons of his NHL career with Edmonton.
The Blackhawks will likely turn to Dylan Sikura to replace Caggiula in the lineup, although they have several other spare forwards to turn to, including MacKenzie Entwistle, Brandon Hagel, Philipp Kurashev and John Quenneville.