Kings’ Brendan Lemieux Suspended Five Games For Biting Senator Brady Tkachuk’s Hand

Los Angeles Kings front Brendan Lemieux will be suspended for 5 matches without pay for biting his left hand Senator from Ottawa front Brady Tkachuk in Saturday’s 4-2 win, NHL announced on Tuesday. The suspension will force Lemieux to forfeit $38,750 of his salary to the Players Emergency Fund.

The third-round breakdown began with Tkachuk shoving Blake Lizzotte into the heart of the Kings after the whistle, leading to a head-on with Lemieux. Tkachuk and Lemiuex begin to fight then touch the ice, where Lemieux grabs a chunk from Tkachuk’s left hand.

“This is not a hockey game,” NHL said in its video explanation. “This is a player delivering a powerful, purposeful and potentially dangerous bite to another player’s bare hand with enough force to puncture the skin. Such actions will not be tolerated.”

Tkachuk showed up with not one but two bloody hands after the fight, telling Lemiuex officials to have bitten both of them. The NHL was unable to substantiate Tkachuk’s claim of a two-handed fisherman for “lack of evidence” but punished Lemiuex for biting Tkachuk’s left hand with a “significant amount of force”.

The NHL said: “While specific evidence supports the argument that Lemiuex may have bitten Tkachuk multiple times during this match, we are limiting our consideration of this incident to a bite that occurred almost immediately after the players fell onto the ice,” the NHL said.

Officials fined Lemiuex a penalty game shortly after the incident, continuing the 25-year-old’s growing trend of illegal play. Lemieux, who has played just 14 games this season, is 14th among NHL skaters with 32 minutes of penalty violations.

Lemieux – in likely an attempt to reduce his suspension – told NHL Tkachuk Tkachuk’s hand was bleeding from driving into his teeth, but the NHL disagreed with his assessment of the incident.

“Video evidence does not support this version of events,” the NHL said. “The video shows evidence of Lemiux’s bite into Tkachuk’s hand consistent with punctures identified after the game.”

The Kings (9-8-4) are currently sixth in the Pacific Division and are scheduled to play The Calgary Flame, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild no Lemieux.