Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will miss the first six games of the 2026-27 regular season after slashing Zach Benson.
Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy was slapped with a six-game suspension for slashing Sabres left winger Zach Benson in Game 6 of the first-round series between Boston and Buffalo.
McAvoy will serve his suspension beginning in the next regular season.
It was late in the game, and the Sabres held a 4-1 lead in what ended up being the day the Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As Benson and McAvoy raced for an icing, Benson tripped McAvoy with his skate, resulting in Boston's defenseman crashing into the boards. Benson did receive a minor penalty for tripping McAvoy.
After the incident, McAvoy got up and charged Benson for retaliation, executing a two-handed slash on the Buffalo left winger's arm.
"(McAvoy) charges toward Benson, who is skating in the other direction, chokes up, raises his stick over his head with both hands, and swings his stick violently at Benson, striking him in the arm," the NHL's explainer video described. "This is slashing."
The NHL Department of Player Safety also explained that this incident occurred outside of regular play at the stage of the outing when "both the game and series have been decided."
"It is important to note that players are not excused from illegal acts just because of a prior foul by an opponent," the league further explained. "It is also important to note that McAvoy travels some distance to purposefully track down an opponent and seek retribution by using his stick as a weapon."
During McAvoy's nine-year career in the NHL, the 28-year-old has been suspended twice before and fined once.
McAvoy played six games in his past post-season campaign, recording two assists and accumulating a minus-six rating and 19 penalty minutes while averaging 25:37 of ice time.
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