Islanders’ de Haan gets major for hit that knocked Lightning’s Drouin out of game

Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan earned himself 10 minutes in penalties thanks to one huge hit that ended Lightning winger Jonathan Drouin’s night.

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Jonathan Drouin’s outing against the New York Islanders lasted all of 18 seconds thanks to a heavy hit from defenseman Calvin de Haan.

During the first period of Tuesday’s game, a puck battle in the neutral zone resulted in the puck trickling along the right wing boards and into the Islanders’ zone. As Drouin gave pursuit as the first Lightning forechecker, he spotted an oncoming de Haan and attempted to poke the puck around the rearguard. When he tapped the puck past de Haan, though, Drouin was absolutely flattened by a hard hit.

The hit stunned Drouin, who got to his feet and immediately left the ice, while Lightning winger Ryan Callahan jumped in and dropped the gloves with de Haan behind the play in defense of Drouin:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChOHrOPgD_Y[/embed]

Callahan and de Haan both earned majors for dropping the gloves, but when the dust settled there was an extra major penalty handed to de Haan for interference. Whistling de Haan for the second major is a tough call and a strange decision given that there wasn’t initially a penalty on the play. In fact, the Islanders were able to carry the puck up ice after de Haan crushed Drouin, and it wasn’t until after the fight that the extra major was handed out.

With the way Drouin leaned in and the fact de Haan kept his arm tucked, it’s hard to imagine the league could be handing de Haan a suspension, especially after he was handed a major on the play. That said, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the league would be taking a look at the hit.

As for Drouin, his night ended as a result of the hit. The Lightning announced ahead of the second frame that the 21-year-old winger had “sustained an injury” and would not return to Tuesday’s game. The hope has to be that the dynamic youngster won’t be on the shelf long, either, but there’s no telling given how solid the jolt was from de Haan.