Request filed to rescind Muzzin’s match penalty

The Los Angeles Kings are in the process of filing a formal request with the National Hockey League to have Jake Muzzin’s match penalty Saturday night rescinded. Muzzin was assessed a match penalty and ejected after his back side made contact with Arizona center Boyd Gordon’s head, which whipped back violently as he fell to the ice.

Muzzin match penalty for check to the head of Gordon's head cc @KDibildeaux pic.twitter.com/MJsQAGVTww

— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 27, 2015

Match penalties are assessed to “any player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner,” and the offending player is suspended, pending a league review. That review process is apparently in the process taking place, and in reading the Kings’ comments after the game, it was clear that both Darryl Sutter and Muzzin disagreed with any argument that deemed the collision an attempt to injure.

“I said last night that it was a [road apples] call. It cost us a point,” Sutter said on Sunday, referencing the point gained by the Coyotes, who scored twice on the major power play, which was reinforced by a minor delay of game call when Alec Martinez dove and chipped a loose puck over the glass while attempting to clear the zone on the penalty kill. The Kings won 4-3 in overtime.

Boyd Gordon did not travel with Arizona to Colorado for tonight’s game and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic.

The Kings appeared to be upset with the officiating on Saturday, as learned publicly through Sutter’s post-game quotes and privately through conversations with those in hockey operations. One play that drew the team’s ire was Kyle Chipchura’s knee-on-knee contact with Marian Gaborik, which resulted in Derek Forbort immediate engagement of Chipchura near the visiting bench. Both players were assessed fighting majors.