During Ottawa's 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night, Senators forward Chris Neil spent quite a bit of time in the penalty box, earning 33 penalty minutes, including two 10-minute misconducts. The first misconduct came at the end of the first period and involved Canadiens forward Ryan White , and during the scrum Neil gave linesman Pierre Champoux a shove as he attempted to go after White.

It's unlikely that Neil will see any additional discipline from the NHL, as I was told on Saturday that NHL operations tends to follow the lead of the on-ice officials, and if the player isn't ejected for abuse of officials (and Neil wasn't), the league rarely steps in.

You can see the incident at the 1:24 mark of the video below, via hockeyfights.com.



I'm not sure that incident on its own is really worth all that much more than the penalty minutes he received during the game, but it is interesting that it's the second time this season Neil has been involved in an incident with a linesman, as he had another encounter (also a shove) with one during a game back in October against the Columbus Blue Jackets, resulting in another 10-minute misconduct.

You have to wonder if he'll get the benefit of the doubt if it happens a third time.

The Senators host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

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