NHL Enforcer Ejected After Dirty hit on Darnell Tonight in Toronto

PUBLICATION

Joshua Deeds
November 16, 2024 (11:44 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

Ryan Reavesof the Toronto Maple Leafs is up to his old tricks again, as tonight he was ejected from the game against the Edmonton Oilers.

He was ejected after targeting Darnell Nurse's head tonight, as the brutal hit sent him down onto the ice.

Oilers defenseman Nurse wasn't expecting the hit, as he was handling the puck behind the Maple Leafs' net, and Reaves would level him and cause Nurse's head to hit the ice.

The Leafs would enter the penalty kill thanks to Reaves's careless hit, and leave the team exposed to a man advantage when they were down 2-1 before the hit.

Reaves threw the hit with 17:19 remaining in the second period and just 28 seconds after Connor McDavid scored to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. The enforcer had played just 3:54 of ice time before being ejected.

It would take a serious amount of time before Nurse could find his footing, and walk off the ice. He'd be leaking like a sieve from one cut and seemed dizzy while heading out of the rink.

He'd leave the game with an upper-body injury.

Here's a better view of the hit in action:

Queque the hockey purists, "keep your head up" which is something people say when they want to excuse absolutely detestable hits such as this.

While Nurse had his head down concentrating, there was no reason for Reaves to lean into it and use his shoulder, making contact to Nurse's head.

This will absolutely end up being looked at by the Department of Player Safety and George Parros.

Hopefully, Nurse will recover soon.

Per USA Today here's Reaves' history:

A video review upheld the call against Reaves. A match penalty triggers an automatic review by the NHL's Department of Player Safety. Reaves has been suspended three times in his career for a total of six games, including an illegal hit to the head in the 2020 playoffs.