Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves was suspended for two playoff games on Monday, the result of a roughing infraction from Sunday’s Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche.
Reaves received a match penalty for intent to injure Colorado defenseman Ryan Graves, which led to an automatic hearing.
Match penalty for Ryan Reaves for attempt to injure pic.twitter.com/7JEMzSN2h8
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 31, 2021
Reaves’s penalties gave the Avalanche a nine-minute power play in the third period.
This is the second match penalty Reaves has been assessed in the last two years; he also was handed one in Game 7 of the Knights’ second-round series against Vancouver last season for an illegal check to the head of Canucks forward Tyler Motte, which resulted in a one-game suspension.
Graves was not injured on the play, although there was a present danger that he could have been.
The altercation, which occurred at 8:04 of the third period, began with Reaves cross-checking Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer in the head before pulling Graves down to the ice and kneeling on his head.
Graves had knocked Mattias Janmark out of the game earlier in the contest; his condition was not updated by Golden Knights’ coach Pete DeBoer on Monday.
The NHL Department of Player Safety made the announcement after a hearing with Reaves about the incident.
Reaves has skated in seven games this postseason with the Golden Knights, averaging 10:04. He has gone without a point in each of those games but has 21 penalty minutes in that time.
The Golden Knights next play against the Avalanche on Wednesday. Keegan Kolesar will likely take Reaves’s place on the fourth line.
Colorado has a 1-0 lead in the series after winning Game 1 by a final score of 7-1.