Josh Manson could face a major suspension after the dirtiest play of the playoffs

Josh Manson handed the Minnesota Wild a four-minute power play Monday night, and the league office is going to be watching the replay.
The Colorado Avalanche defenseman caught Michael McCarron with the butt end of his stick.

The on-ice officials issued a double minor under NHL Rule 58.5.

The actual rule reads cleaner than the play looked. Attempting to butt end gets you four minutes.

Actually connecting is supposed to be a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

The 34-year-old blueliner stayed on the bench. The Wild got the man advantage.

And the Department of Player Safety has a clip to evaluate by morning.

McCarron is a fourth-line center making 900 thousand. He plays 9 games of playoff hockey to get to a moment like this, then takes a stick to the face for it.

The Wild forward has 4 points across the postseason at plus-2. Not the kind of production that puts him on a target list. The cheap shot didn’t fit the player.

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Bednar’s blue line under a microscope in Round 2
The Avalanche came into this round as the league’s top regular season team at 121 points. Their goal differential of plus-99 was the best in hockey.

That kind of resume buys you patience in May. It doesn’t buy you immunity from a supplemental hearing.

Manson is one of Jared Bednar’s most physical defenders. The veteran finished the regular season at plus-42 with 5 goals and 26 assists in 79 games.

A suspension here costs Colorado a top-four right shot in a series that already feels chippy.

The Wild won Game 3 by four goals at home to cut the deficit.

This postseason keeps producing exactly these kinds of clips. The Xhekaj punch, the Norris hold and strike, now Manson’s stick blade in a face.

Player Safety is busier than the goal scorers some nights.

The Avs need their full lineup if Minnesota plans to keep punching back.

Bednar can’t afford to lose Manson’s minutes against the Kirill Kaprizov line.

The hearing call comes in the next 24 hours. Game 5 doesn’t wait.

If the league decides this one warrants extra games, the series shifts in a way Colorado wasn’t planning for.