As reported earlier by LA Kings Insider, Tanner Pearson faces a hearing with the Department of Player Safety for his shoulder-to-head hit on Edmonton’s Brandon Davidson, which resulted in a checking to the head major penalty and game misconduct in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Oilers in Vernon, B.C. The hearing will be held over the phone, according to hockey ops; the date and time of it has not yet been set. Los Angeles concludes the preseason with games in Las Vegas against Dallas on Friday and Colorado on Saturday.
Davidson injury (2 replays in this GIF). Pearson ejected from the game for the hit. pic.twitter.com/r8qpPUgkpN
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 3, 2016
That’s a high hit that the league is looking to rid itself of, and it’s a beat late as Pearson whiffs on making contact with the body, springing upwards towards Davidson’s head. He doesn’t have any priors with the Department of Player Safety, so there shouldn’t be any concern over a lengthier suspension. There’s little sense in looking for past precedent, but it is somewhat bizarre that Scottie Upshall wasn’t dinged for this leaping elbow to Tyler Toffoli’s head during an early season game in St. Louis last year.
The Kings will return to the ice for practice at 10:0 a.m. on Tuesday, October 4.
Rules for Blog Commenting
Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.
Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.