Thursday night’s game between the St. Louis Blues and Carolina Hurricanes seemed a bit more pushy than what one would expect. Lots of hits, shoves, and a pretty nasty spill into the boards by Andy McDonald (courtesy of one Tuomo Ruutu) highlighted the game. Ruutu’s hit on McDonald was questionable - one that TSN’s resident ref Kerry Fraser thinks should have been a tripping call - and now McDonald is listed as “week to week,” something that should make Blues’ fans cringe.

The thing that was overlooked a bit Thursday was Jeff Skinner managing to kick Blues forward Scott Nichol. Here’s the explanation via Brendan Shanahan:

Skinner will be out for two games and will forfeit $9,729.72 in salary for a pretty ill advised way to let out some frustration. It’s not that Carolina’s depending on him for a playoff run, but he’s still the kind of player they need around. Hopefully this is a lesson learned: kicking, especially when you’re wearing blades sharper than a chef’s knife, is not appropriate. Ever.