In the Sunday match featuring the New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabres, tensions flared somewhat between Stefan Noesen and Tage Thompson. The Devils’ standout player would land a vicious hit on Thompson, knocking him to the ground. As a result, he was removed from the game.
The event occurred during the third period of the match at 5:11. At that time, the Sabres were ahead in the game 4-2 and looking to secure the victory by scoring another goal. In the meantime, the Devils were pursuing the match and required something extraordinary to secure a favorable outcome.
As Thompson reached for the puck by the blue line, Noesen executed a powerful hit on him. Although he managed to deflect the puck, he also took down his opponent.
After that hit from Noesen, Thompson would rotate and tumble onto the ice. His helmet also tumbled off, and he lay face down on the ice, writhing in pain.
Unexpectedly, a fight did not occur between the two groups of players. Typically, when a player receives hits like this in a game, their teammates come to their aid and confront the individual who took them down. In this case, no player pursued Noesen.
After this hit, the officials issued a five-minute major penalty for it. Noesen, conversely, received a game misconduct, which indicated that he was removed from the game. Regarding Thompson, he would not re-enter the game afterward, but he cleared his concussion evaluations according to head coach Lindy Ruff.
Jason Zucker explains why the Sabres didn’t react to Stefan Noesen’s hit on Tage Thompson.
The footage of Stefan Noesen’s collision with Tage Thompson has been circulating online. Several fans have talked about the incident. What many highlighted is why the team failed to react to that hit on Thompson. After the game, seasoned forward Jason Zucker disclosed the explanation.
Initially, Zucker stated that he did not witness the hit in person. He later noted that his team was already leading the match, so they chose not to react to that hit.
Our reply is that we succeeded. You can strike me from the back, we netted a goal. He committed two mistakes that cost their team a victory. We’ll accept that all day long. We can discuss responding, but you won’t take action that could lead to our team losing when you’re unaware of what transpired.
Jason Zucker shared with the media during the post-game press conference.
The 33-year-old highlighted that he had the option to drop the gloves and engage in a fight, but that would lead to a significant penalty. This was something they aimed to prevent as they were ahead 4-2.
The Buffalo Sabres ultimately triumphed in the game 4-3 and secured their third consecutive victory. This resulted in their record being 21-26-5. Regarding the New Jersey Devils, this marked their second defeat in the past three matches, resulting in a record of 29-19-6 and placing them 3rd in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Leave a Reply