NHL Playoff Notes: Blue Jackets' Matt Calvert Suspended for Hit on Penguins' Tom Kuhnhackl

NEW YORK -- Columbus Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert has been suspended one game for his cross-check to Pittsburgh's Tom Kuhnhackl late in the third period of a Game 2 loss to the Penguins.

Calvert will miss Game 3 Sunday. The NHL announced the suspension Saturday night.

Calvert received a minor penalty for cross-checking on Friday when he chased down Kuhnhackl away from the play and hit the Penguins forward in the head with his stick, which broke in the process. The NHL Department of Player Safety says it rose to the level of supplemental discipline because it was not a hockey play and fell into the category of message-sending.

The penalty came with 35 seconds left in a 4-1 loss that dropped the Blue Jackets into a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series.

Kuhnhackl practiced on Saturday. Calvert was not made available to the media.

Ducks: Kase sent to AHL, Ritchie back from suspension
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks have reassigned left wing Ondrej Kase to their AHL affiliate in San Diego, likely clearing room for Nick Ritchie to make his Stanley Cup playoff debut.

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The Ducks made the move Saturday, several hours before Game 2 of their first-round series with the Calgary Flames.

Ritchie just completed a two-game suspension for punching Chicago's Michal Rozsival in the Ducks' penultimate regular-season game. The bruising power forward had 14 goals and 14 assists this season in his first full NHL campaign.

Kase made his NHL playoff debut during the Ducks' 3-2 win over the Flames in the series opener Thursday night. The Czech forward had five goals and 10 assists in 53 games as a rookie for the Ducks this season.

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