Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown will face a hearing with the NHL’s disciplinary committee Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET following an incident that occurred during the Kings’ 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday evening.
Brown fired up the Wild with a vicious-looking elbow to the jaw of Jason Pominville in the second period that went without penalty and knocked Pominville on his back.
The newly acquired Wild forward woozily and slowly skated off the ice with a trainer’s guidance and didn’t return to the bench.
Wild coach Mike Yeo said he had no update on Pominville’s condition after the game and declined to comment on the hit. Brown, who had the puck on his stick at the time, said he was trying to brace himself for a hit from Pominville.
“We’ve seen it on the replay, but I’m sure someone will look at it,” Wild forward Devin Setoguchi said. “The game’s going fast. From our end, it was right in the head on the face.”
Still fighting to clinch a playoff spot, the Wild are already without one of their top scorers in Dany Heatley for the remainder of the season. Losing Pominville for any stretch would be a significant setback.
The Kings have two more games remaining in their regular season, Wednesday in Detroit and Saturday versus San Jose.
“I can’t look at the schedule (when making a suspension decision),” chief NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan told HC @ Noon Wednesday, prior to Brown’s hearing.
Brown has no prior suspension history.
[polldaddy poll=7058966]
(with files from CP)
