Just when things couldn't get much worse for the Phoenix Coyotes, they did.
Coyotes center Martin Hanzal will face a disciplinary hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety for his hit on Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown in the third period of Tuesday night's 4-0 Kings win at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The disciplinary hearing is typically the prelude to a suspension, making it likely that the Coyotes will be without Hanzal on Thursday night, when the series shifts to Staples Center in Los Angeles for the third game of the series.
With nine minutes remaining in the game on Tuesday and the Kings leading, 3-0, Hanzal skated up behind Brown as he chased a puck along the boards behind the Coyotes' net, raised his arms, and shoved Brown headfirst into the boards. Hanzal received a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct penalty on the play, which led to the fourth and final Los Angeles goal, the third of the night for Jeff Carter, who completed the first playoff hat trick of his career.
The 6-foot-6 native of the Czech Republic has three goals and two assists in 10 playoff games for the Coyotes during the playoffs after scoring eight goals and assisting on 26 more in 64 regular-season games. Now in his fifth NHL season, Hanzal post his highest points-per-game average of his career (just over 0.53), but now, his season could be done. The Coyotes trail the Kings in the Western Conference final, two games to none, and Los Angeles has won 10 of 11 games in the postseason.
Hanzal would be the third Coyotes player suspended in the playoffs, and the second for boarding. Phoenix defenseman Rostislav Kesla was suspended one game on April 21 for boarding Nashville's Matt Halischuk in the Coyotes' 1-0 win over the Predators in the fourth game of the conference semifinals. In the first round of the playoffs, Phoenix forward Raffi Torres drew a 25-game suspension for his hit on Chicago's Marian Hossa.
Hanzal's hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and a decision will be announced far in advance of Thursday night's game, which is scheduled for a 9:00 p.m. ET start at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.