Mikko Rantanen will have to watch the Dallas Stars‘ next game from the sidelines after a couple ugly incidents over the last week.
The Stars forward has been automatically suspended one game for boarding Calgary Flames winger Matt Coronato, the NHL’s department of player safety announced Sunday.
It was the second game misconduct penalty that Rantanen has incurred over the last week after a hit on New York Islanders defenceman Alexander Romanov on Tuesday. He did not receive a suspension on that play.
According to the DoPS, any player who incurs two game misconduct penalties before playing 41 consecutive regular-season games without such a penalty shall be suspended automatically for the next game for his team.
The tipping point for Rantanen came in the Stars’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Flames on Saturday night.
With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Rantanen hit Coronato from behind and headfirst into the boards. Coronato immediately left the ice with a bloody nose as teammate Jonathan Huberdeau went after Rantanen with play whistled dead.
Coronato returned to the game early in the third period.
Along with the game misconduct, Rantanen was given an additional penalty for fighting Huberdeau, who received a 10-minute misconduct for retaliating to the hit.
On Tuesday against the Isles, Rantanen made contact with Romanov on the forecheck and sent the defenceman face-first into the boards.
Romanov immediately appeared to be in pain and required assistance to skate off the ice. He was placed on the injured reserve the following day with an upper-body injury. Rantanen was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and ejected from the game.
The 29-year-old Finn has had a productive first full season with the Stars, tallying 10 goals and 18 assists in 22 games, but because of his two ejections, he has a league-leading 57 penalty minutes.
