The NHL took their time before deciding the punishment, but in the middle of Friday night's Game 3 in St. Louis it announced that Colorado Forward Nazem Kadri would be suspended 8 games for his vicious hit on Blues Defenseman Justin Faulk in the 3rd period of Wednesday's Game 2. The hit to Faulk's head knocked him out of the game and earned Kadri a game misconduct/5-minute major with 9:26 left in that game.
Avs Head Coach Jared Bednar addressed the likely suspension, "Nothing changes for us," he said, "Our goal is to play a complete 60 minutes. I thought we did a lot of real good things in Game 1 and Game 2, but we didn't play a full 60 to the standard that we've set for our team."
Veteran Carl Soderberg, who's played in 41 playoff games prior to Game 3 for Boston, Arizona and, of course, Colorado, will take Kadri's place in the lineup.
This is the third time Kadri has been suspended in the postseason. When playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was suspended three games for boarding Boston Bruins forward Tommy Wingels in Game 1 of the 2018 Eastern Conference First Round. He also was suspended for the remainder of the 2019 first round for cross-checking Boston forward Jake Debrusk in Game 2.
As it said in the release from the league, if the term of the suspension is not fully served during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the remaining games will be served at the beginning of the 2021-22 regular season.