Golden Knights’ Ryan Reaves suspended 1 game for illegal hit

The Golden Knights hoped Ryan Reaves’ reputation as a tough-but-clean player worked in his favor as he faced supplemental discipline for his illegal hit delivered in Game 7 on Friday.

But it couldn’t prevent the bruising forward from being suspended.

Reaves was handed a one-game penalty Saturday by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and will miss Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.

The Knights open the best-of-seven series at 5 p.m. Sunday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

“In my time both coaching against Ryan and now with him, he’s the cleanest, toughest player that I know,” coach Pete DeBoer said before the suspension was announced. “Very rarely does he take penalties. He very rarely takes liberties. He doesn’t take advantage of people in vulnerable positions, even though he could. And yet he plays as physical a brand of hockey as anybody in the league.”

Reaves was assessed a match penalty and ejected from Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals Friday after he drilled Vancouver’s Tyler Motte with an illegal check to the head with 3:30 remaining in the second period.

Motte collected the puck behind his net and started to move up the ice before Reaves clocked the Canucks forward with his shoulder.

“I think he’s going for a hit there like he does every shift he’s on the ice,” DeBoer said. “And angle, movement of the other guy, he’s committed to it, doesn’t have time — whatever the reason — he catches him in the wrong spot.”

In a video explaining the suspension, the Department of Player Safety noted Reaves’ check met both elements of the rule: Motte’s head was clearly the main point of contact and the head contact was avoidable.

Reaves claimed, according to the video, that he thought Motte would be forced further toward the boards because of the forechecking pressure from Paul Stastny. Instead, Reaves cuts across the front of Motte’s body and delivers a “forceful shoulder directly to Motte’s head,” the video said.

The hit was similar to one from Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals last season when San Jose’s Joe Thornton sideswiped Knights forward Tomas Nosek and was handed a one-game suspension.

“While we accept Reaves’ argument that he does not intend to hit Motte in the head,” the Department of Player Safety explained, “Motte does not materially change the position of his head or body in a way that significantly contributes to the head contact on this play.”

Motte missed the remainder of the second period but returned to play eight shifts in the third, according to the NHL’s time on ice report.

The Knights killed off the five-minute power play and went on to a 3-0 victory.

This is the second time in Reaves’ career he has been suspended, which might have worked in his favor only to avoid further punishment.

He was suspended three games in 2016 for boarding and has been fined by the league twice in a 10-year career that includes 910 penalty minutes.

With Reaves unavailable, DeBoer has several options available for the Meat Grinders on the fourth line with likely holdovers William Carrier and Nosek.

Nick Cousins was scratched for Game 7 and could return to the lineup assuming he’s fit to play and it was a coach’s decision to go with Nosek on Friday.

One wild card to consider is 6-foot-2-inch, 227-pound right wing Keegan Kolesar, the closest replacement for Reaves in terms of size and playing style.

“We know as a group we have guys that can fill in,” defenseman Nick Holden said. “(Carrier) still brings a lot of physicality and a hard forecheck. (Reaves will) be missed, obviously. He’s a big guy and a physical presence, but guys will fill in for him.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.