NHL Department of Player Safety hands down fines and a suspension in the Lightning / Leafs series

Midway through the third period, in a game that was well out of hand, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs reintroduced themselves to each other in a good old fashion line brawl.

After losing his fight to Patrick Maroon, Morgan Reilly picked up a little revenge by when he bloodied Jan Rutta.

The fracas led to six misconducts and a bevy of penalty minutes being handed out by the officials. On Tuesday the league handed down some fines to the participants.

Earlier in the day the Department of Player Safety had mentioned that Kyle Clifford would have a hearing for boarding Ross Colton early in the game. At the time, Clifford was given a game misconduct penalty and the Lightning were awarded a five-minute power play (that went poorly).

Later in the day, the DOPS announced their decision after the hearing. Clifford’s defense didn’t hold water and the forward was suspended for one game as the results of his actions. He will not be available for Game Two.

“What causes this play to rise to the level of supplemental discipline is the angle from which Clifford approaches this hit, which makes Colton particularly defenseless, combined with his force.”

With Michael Bunting’s return possible for Game Two, Clifford might have been out of the game anyway. If Bunting is still unable to play, expect veteran Jason Spezza to draw into the line-up.