Brenden Dillon lays massive open ice hit on Sabres forward JJ Peterka

While preseason games continue in North America, the National Hockey League's 2024-25 regular season got underway in Czechia with a pair of contests between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils.

The Devils took the season opener on Friday by a score of 4 to 1 and on Saturday, were looking to sweep the Global Series with a victory. Early on in the game on Saturday, things got quite physical thanks to New Jersey Devils defenceman Brenden Dillon.

Just over six minutes into the open frame, Brenden Dillon stepped up in the neutral zone and laid a massive open ice hit on Buffalo Sabres forward JJ Peterka, who didn't see the Devils blueliner coming.

Initially, it appeared that Brenden Dillon caught Peterka in the head with his forearm and was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct on the play. Upon further review, the officials downgraded the penalty to two-minutes for interference, along with five-minutes for fighting Buffalo Sabres forward Alex Tuch.

There was plenty of concern for JJ Peterka right after the hit. The German forward was down on the ice for a bit before being helped back to the bench by his teammates and didn't return for the remainder of the first period. On the replay, it looked like not only did he get the impact from the hit, but may have hit his head on the ice and had his neck snap back quite violently.

While the officials on the ice believe, after a review, that there wasn't enough to warrant a five-minute major and game misconduct, that didn't stop fans from believing Dillon should have been ejected and face supplemental discipline from the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

Everyone in the hockey community is hoping that JJ Peterka is doing okay and will be able to return to the ice as soon as it's safely possible.

Update: according to head coach Lindy Ruff, JJ Peterka has a concussion