Ryan Suter gets away with pair of dangerous cross-checks on Kirill Kaprizov (video)

It was a rough Game 1 in the Lone Star State as Dallas hosted the Minnesota Wild to open up their first round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

During the second period, Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski was rocked in Minnesota's zone by Wild defenceman Matt Dumba. Pavelski hit his head on the ice and was forced to leave the game, while Dumba saw his five-minute major reduced to a minor penalty.

The rough stuff didn't stop there though as in the third period, Stars defenceman Ryan Suter did his best to get under the skin of Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov.

Suter issued a pair of cross-checks that were pretty dangerous. On the first one, Kaprizov is looking to skate into Dallas' zone to chase down a loose puck before Suter drives his stick into the kidney area of the Russian forward, with the official looking right at the play, as you can see in the video below.


Former NHL.com reporter Dan Myers, who retweeted the video, said that NHL general managers have told him in the past that Suter is one of the dirtiest players in the league.

Was told once by a former NHL General Manager that Ryan Suter is one of the dirtiest players in the league but he's not known as that because he does his business behind the play. https://t.co/2vLYzc0v48— Dan Myers (@DanMyers) April 18, 2023

The second cross-check came in front of Dallas' net. Kaprizov skated towards the front of the Stars' net so he could potentially pick up a rebound, but Suter comes in right behind him and delivers a cross-check to the lower-back of the Wild forward.

It's worth noting that both cross-checks went uncalled. While every year, it seems that the officials put their whistles away and let a lot go during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a blatant cross-check to someone's lower-back should always be called.

Just amazing that NHL referees allow superstars to get viciously abused like this https://t.co/8ZddCsctqP— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 18, 2023