I don’t honestly know if you can point to motive when it comes to a slap shot in hockey that could be aimed at a player. The point is usually to hit the puck as hard as you can so that it gets through traffic and past a netminder.
But in this example? It feels like an exception.
At the end of the Nashville Predators’ 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, the clock was ticking down. The Lightning’s Austin Watson reared back and hit a slapshot from his own zone … and it nailed the Preds’ Jeremy Lauzon. The defenseman went down, looked hurt and was furious, while his teammates went after Watson, and rightfully so.
Why would Watson hit that kind of slapper when the game was well out of hand? And with Lauzon right in front of him?!
For those that missed it, here's the play at the end of Preds vs Lightning where Austin Watson drills Jeremy Lauzon with a slap shot for no reason.
HC Andrew Brunette said there was "no place in the game" for this afterwards. pic.twitter.com/4Vq7R8Pksf
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) December 8, 2023
Writer Alex Daugherty said he heard Watson tried to visit Lauzon to see if he was OK. And Predators head coach Andrew Brunette was mad for good reason:
Here was Brunette after the game: pic.twitter.com/sOUVWX5ZKd
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) December 8, 2023
Maybe motive isn’t the point and perhaps it wasn’t aimed at Lauzon. But like with high sticking, you’re responsible for your actions whether they were deliberate or not. There’s no place for this.
The NHL needs to suspend Watson for this to make a point: If a game is out of hand and the clock is ticking down, a simple lifting of the puck into the air will do just fine.