This is certainly not the start to the playoffs Kyle Clifford would have wanted.
During Monday’s Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, Clifford was given a game misconduct and was ejected for an absolutely brutal hit on Ross Colton. Less than 10 minutes into the game, Clifford plastered Colton on the boards from behind with an elbow that immediately drew the referees’ attention.
It didn’t take long for the referees to tag Clifford with a boarding call and a game misconduct, ejecting him from the game and putting the Lightning on a five minute major.
The duality of Kyle Clifford
one was good, the other was not good pic.twitter.com/4SGxaihJmz
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 2, 2022
Yeah that’s… not great from Clifford! Here’s another angle that shows just how brutal it was.
Kyle Clifford has been given a game misconduct for this hit
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/ThZ5V0gz6Y
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 2, 2022
That was one hundred percent unnecessary from Clifford, as the puck was gone from Colton’s stick before he even got there. It remains to be seen if Clifford will earn a hearing from the Department of Player Safety for this one.
Thankfully for the Maple Leafs, the team survived the five-minute major and ended up taking a 1-0 lead on the Lightning at the end of the first period.
