Multi-game suspension for Matthew Tkachuk.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has come down hard on Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk.

In an official decision, the league has announced that Tkachuk will be suspended from play for the next 2 regular season games as a result of what they have deemed to be a high-stick to Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick.

The most telling part of the announcement was the league's repeated framing of this as an intentional act on the part of Tkachuk, one in which they rejected Tkachuk's assertion that this was not done intentionally nor with intent to injure.

In fact the league went so far as to suggest that, had there been more force behind the poke, Tkachuk would have faced a much harsher penalty.