On Saturday night Ryan Hartman let his emotions get the best of him. After a disappointing overtime loss, Hartman lost his cool over a blown call late in regulation. Unfortunately for Hartman, his latest tantrum is going to cost him games and money.
In the final minute of regulation during a goal mouth scramble Hartman is clipped by a high stick from Noah Hanifin. The clear penalty was somehow missed by the officials on the ice and sent the game into overtime 5 on 5, instead of with the Wild on a justified power play.
At the conclusion of the game Hartman, who was still hot let his better judgement get the better of him. Instead of just giving it to officials verbally, Hartman instead threw his stick in the direction of the officials, a no no, but NHL standards.
In his career Hartman has been suspended three times, most recently in November of last year. Due to this, Hartman is considered a repeat offender and will likely treated as such.
It is interesting to note the league is not viewing this as a usual violation of the abuse official policy. Instead treating this as an unsportsmanlike contact penalty, this could allow the league to offer some lenience to Hartman. Treating this as unsportsmanlike conduct, however, it also gives the league the ability to go above the mandated 3 game punishment usually assigned to this penalty.
