Cale Makar on Jared McCann hit in Avalanche-Kraken Game 4: “I never want to injure guys”

SEATTLE — Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann will miss at least Game 5 of the first round after Cale Makar’s controversial hit Monday night, Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.

Hakstol disagreed with the officials’ decision to reduce Makar’s penalty to a two-minute minor after it was initially deemed a major.

“I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as (McCann) is being run into the wall,” Hakstol said.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he hadn’t watched a replay of the hit yet, but he doesn’t expect the NHL to issue supplemental discipline to Makar, citing the importance of the penalty being reduced.

“It’s unfortunate. I never want to injure guys,” Makar said. “Hopefully (McCann is) alright. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard. But I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing. So I’m not trying to hurt anybody. It’s just unfortunate. Tough bouncer. And they got the call right. That’s all you can ask for.”

Makar said he was unsure if the puck was still in play or out of play when he landed the hit along the end boards at Climate Pledge Arena.

“I know he got the shot off,” the defending Conn Smythe Trophy winner said. “And then I was just assuming he was going to the corner, because it was coming down. So I didn’t really look. And then, yeah, just unfortunate how it happened.”

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.

Source: Read Full Article