Charlie McAvoy leveled Vegas rookie Trevor Connelly into the end boards tonight, and the Bruins and Golden Knights are in the first intermission with a mess to sort out.
This is a developing story and it will be updated.
Connelly was left down after the hit at TD Garden and had to be helped to the Vegas bench by a trainer and Tomas Hertl, according to Jack Studley. Braeden Bowman went right after McAvoy, and the scrum that followed was described by BR_OpenIce as chaos, with Connelly skating off in pain.
Studley described the moment as it happened.
Connelly is a big piece of what Vegas has been doing. He walked into the night with 4 goals and 5 assists in 15 games, which puts his 9 points among the rookie scoring leaders.
Studley also reported that the Bruins lead on a James Hagens goal, but the game sits at the first intermission and the score isn't something to hang a story on yet.
BR_OpenIce captured the same sequence, saying the hit turned into chaos with Connelly skating off in pain.
Vegas-focused account Sin Bin Vegas wrote that McAvoy was trying to get the icing, didn't win the race and hit Connelly, with the puck still under him.
Was McAvoy's hit worth a major?
That's the debate already. Sin Bin Vegas wrote that, despite the injury, the call looked right, and that it was hard to call the play egregious enough for a major because Connelly was trying to play the puck.
The account's verdict was that 2 minutes seemed right.
Nothing is known yet about Connelly's condition, and that's the question hanging over the second period. Vegas will watch whether he comes back out.
For McAvoy, this is a season that has been quietly productive. He has 8 points in 9 games, and he's 3 assists away from 300 for his career. He sits at 297.
Boston has been a strong group at home with a 6-1-0 record, and the Bruins came in first in the Atlantic Division. The Golden Knights were 2nd in the Pacific.
Bowman getting into it so fast tells you how Vegas saw the hit. How the officials and the league view it is the next thing to watch once the third period is done.
Both teams are scheduled to be at PIT soon, Vegas on Tuesday and Boston on Thursday, so any fallout from tonight will follow them there.
