NHL delivers verdict on Nathan MacKinnon’s attack on referee last night

In case you missed it last night, Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon raised some eyebrows across the hockey world when he appeared to slash a linesman in his team’s 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.

Fans debated on whether the Avalanche forward was really going after the official or if he had attempted the move on Tomas Nosek (#92) of the Bruins and just missed.

And it looks like after review, the NHL has made the call and decision not to punish MacKinnon:

The league reiterates how important the safety of the officials is, but is aware that MacKinnon was not going after the linesman. Some fans wondered if the Avalanche star would get a suspension like Antoine Vermette got back in 2017 for the abuse of an official. However, it was clear that Vermette deserved the 10-game ban.

Here, it is just a move that was directed at an opposing player and ended up on the linesman. The league has confirmed it and MacKinnon goes unpunished. He needs to work on his target.