With 7:31 left in the third period, the 40-year old Daniel Alfredsson was ejected from a National Hockey League game for the first time in his NHL career.
The event occurred when Chris Phillips skated back to the redline to collect a puck that the Flyers had chipped out of the defensive zone. After retrieving the puck in the area between the bench but inside the redline, Phillips dumped the puck back into the Flyers’ zone before absorbing a hit from the side by Zac Rinaldo, a player best known for his using a mirror to take pictures of himself.
Phillips was not hurt on the play, but Alfie, as any good captain should, took issue with the hit on a vulnerable player. A crosscheck upside Rinaldo’s cranium later, Alfie accumulated 15 minutes in penalties; establishing a new career high and registering his first match penalty.
Alfie has had misconducts before:
– In Game Two of the 1998 Eastern Conference Semifinals versus Washington, Alfie received a holding the stick penalty with his team down 5-1 with 8 minutes left in the third period and a 10-minute misconduct for arguing the call with the referee.
– He also received a 10-minute misconduct during the December 23rd game versus the New York Rangers when teammate Martin Havlat was slapped with a two-minute holding penalty.
But never a game misconduct. 1152 games, 420 goals and 1093 points into a NHL career, it's hard to believe that there are benchmarks left for Alfredsson to accomplish during the regular season, but yesterday was a first for his storied career.
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