Chris VandeVelde will sit two games for this elbowing penalty. (NHL)
Chris VandeVelde will sit two games for this elbowing penalty. (NHL)

Philadelphia Flyers forward Chris VandeVelde will sit out his team’s next two games after being suspended by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. VandeVelde was cited for elbowing Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews in the head during the Flyers’ 3-2 win Wednesday night.

VandeVelde was penalized after leading with his forearm as he checked Toews up high, catching him in the head. Due to the position of the Flyers forward’s approach, Toews never even saw it coming. Though the penalty on the ice was nothing more than a minor for elbowing, supplemental discipline seemed inevitable.

Here is the NHL’s explanation:

Toews was not injured on the play and remained in the game. According to VandeVelde, who played with Toews one year at the University of North Dakota, the two met up after the game and also exchanged text messages. Toews wanted to let his ex-teammate know there were no hard feelings.

While everything was fine healthwise with Toews, the NHL still doesn’t take too kindly to direct shots to the head, which this clearly was. Even in the absence of malice, the recklessness of the play and the force with which the blow was delivered warranted something further. VandeVelde’s disciplinary history is otherwise clean, which likely prevented any more games from being tacked on.

He’ll miss a pair of huge games for the Flyers, who are still battling for wild card position in the Eastern Conference. The first is a really big one against one of the two teams they are chasing, the Pittsburgh Penguins at home, while the second is another divisional game against the New York Islanders.