Report: Wild's Dumba won't be disciplined further for Pavelski hit
Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba won't have a hearing for his hit that injured Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Monday night, reports ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.
A source told Wyshynski the contact was "close to being late but within (the) allowable window."
Pavelski exited the series opener and didn't return after Dumba caught him up high below the red line in the second period.
Matt Dumba lays a late hit on Joe Pavelski and receives a 2-minute minor penalty for roughing. pic.twitter.com/a6XTWf4Hup
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 18, 2023
Dumba was initially given a five-minute major for the hit, but it was rescinded to a two-minute minor for roughing after review.
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer provided a somewhat encouraging update on Pavelski after the game.
"Joe's OK," DeBoer said. "Obviously, he's banged up. (He) hit his head on the ice when he fell. … He's OK. He's 'walking out of the rink on his own' OK."
The bench boss added he's "not confident" Pavelski will be in the lineup for Game 2.
As for DeBoer's thoughts on the hit itself, he gave the officiating crew credit rather than criticizing it.
"We have the best officials in the world," he said. "They called a five, (and) they reviewed it, which is the right thing to do. If they reviewed it and decided it wasn't a bad hit, then I guess it's not for me to argue with that. They got to look at it from multiple different angles, and that was the decision they made. So we've got to live with that."
Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger had a different opinion, however.
"I haven't seen it closely, (but) from what I saw, it looked like a major penalty," the netminder said. "I'll look at it, and I don't think my opinion's going to change. So it's tough, you lose your leader like that, (a) guy we need to a cheap shot like that ... hopefully, he's not hurt too bad and we can use it as motivation to help us."
Stars forward Max Domi also received a two-minute minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct for continuing after he came to Pavelski's defense.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday night in Dallas.