Capitals' Evgeny Kuznetsov barred 1 game for high-sticking Canucks' Burroughs

Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has been suspended one game without pay for high-sticking Vancouver Canucks defenceman Kyle Burroughs on Tuesday.

The incident happened at 16:40 of the second period in the Capitals 6-4 win on Monday.

The two collided after Kuznetsov missed on a scoring chance in front of the net. Burroughs had lost his stick and pushed the forward away from the puck as he was getting back up. Kuznetsov then swung his stick and struck Burroughs in the face.

Burroughs immediately fell to the ice clutching his face but avoided serious injury.

Kuznetsov was assessed a minor penalty for high-sticking during the game.

The centre had a hearing with the NHL earlier Tuesday before the suspension was handed to him.

In a video announcing the suspension, the league called it "an intentional stick swing toward an opponent that makes high contact" and said the purposeful nature of the swing and where it landed on Burroughs made it rise to the level of a suspension.

The 30-year-old from Chelyabinsk, Russia, will now miss Washington's upcoming game Thursday at Ottawa and forfeit $42,162 US in salary. He's eligible to return Saturday against Los Angeles.

This is Kuznetsov's fourth run-in with the league. He was fined $2,000 for diving in 2017, suspended three games for off-ice conduct in 2019 and fined $5,000 for high-sticking last season.

Kuznetsov had three assists against Vancouver and trails only Alex Ovechkin in points among Capitals players.

Nichushkin doping case dropped, Russia says

A years-old doping case against Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been dropped by the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Russian Hockey Federation said on Tuesday.

The RHF said "the IIHF informed Nichushkin that all charges against the player have been dropped" and it would not attempt to suspend him. The RHF said this followed "the results of additional analyses" at a drug-testing laboratory in Switzerland.

The IIHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nichushkin was one of the Avalanche's top players on their Stanley Cup run last season. He then signed an eight-year, $49-million US contract to remain with Colorado long term.

An IIHF sanction would not affect NHL eligibility.

In November 2021, RHF executive director Dmitry Kurbatov told Russian media the case originated with a sample Nichushkin gave in 2013. Kurbatov said the World Anti-Doping Agency obtained Nichushkin's sample in 2019 from the closed Moscow lab and that a banned substance was found when it was reanalyzed.

In a July interview with Russian newspaper Sport-Express, Nichushkin said he was told that a test he gave while with Russian club Traktor Chelyabinsk allegedly contained a suspicious level of testosterone, and he was accused of links to a Russian doping cover-up scheme. He said he was fighting the allegations.

Kings' Iafallo out with lower-body injury

The Los Angeles Kings placed forward Alex Iafallo on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

Iafallo, 28, was injured during the 5-4 win Monday over the host Detroit Red Wings.

He extended his season-opening point streak (two goals, three assists) to four games before leaving late in the third period, assisting on Gabriel Vilardi's first-period goal.

That also marked the 100th career assist for Iafallo, who also has 73 goals in 365 games since making his NHL debut with Los Angeles in 2017.

The Kings recalled defenceman Jacob Moverare from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League.

Moverare, 24, made his NHL debut last season and contributed two assists in 19 games with Los Angeles.