The Carolina Hurricanes took a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The game was very heated, and now fans are calling for Taylor Hall to be suspended following a brutal hit on Travis Sanheim.
With a 4-1 win, the Hurricanes earned their seventh straight playoff victory. They now have a chance to set a new NHL record, as no team has ever recorded two sweeps to start the playoffs.
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Taylor Hall hit on Sanheim
Game 3 featured plenty of physicality and tension. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour received a minor penalty for yelling at the officials over a penalty on Seth Jarvis. But what had people talking afterward was a hit by Taylor Hall on Travis Sanheim in the second period. Hall hit Sanheim from behind while Sanheim was down on one knee.
Hall received a two-minute penalty. During a postgame interview, Sanheim shared his thoughts on the hit.
“I was just trying to make a play on the puck – I fell to one knee and was just trying to get it out. I was in a vulnerable spot, and he decided to finish his check. It just felt like his hands drove my head right into the wall. I thought it was a pretty dirty play. It felt like he could have let up a little bit, but he decided to drive me into the wall. I guess that’s his decision,” Sanheim told reporters.
Fans demand suspension
Now, fans are calling for Hall to be suspended following the hit.
“If this was Nazem Kadri, it would be a 10-gamer!” one fan wrote on X.
“That’s gotta be a suspension!” another wrote.
“That is one of the clearest examples of a five-minute major, a game misconduct, and a next-game suspension I’ve seen,” a third fan wrote.
Game 4 will be played on Saturday.
You can watch the hit below.
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