Brayden McNabb just ended Ryan Poehling's night with a monster late hit
Brayden McNabb is going to spend Wednesday morning waiting for a phone call from the NHL Department of Player Safety.
The Vegas Knights defenseman was assessed a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for interference on Ryan Poehling during Tuesday's Game 5.
Poehling needed assistance leaving the ice. The Anaheim Ducks forward went straight to the locker room.
The combination that matters here is the major, the ejection, and the injury. Player Safety weighs all three when deciding on a hearing.
McNabb is 35 years old and has been the kind of physical defender John Tortorella trusts in playoff hockey. He plays at a 3.65 million cap hit and skates top-four right shot minutes.
His playoff line tells the story of how Vegas has used him. 10 games, 3 points, plus-5, including a shorthanded goal. He's been on the right side of the puck until tonight.
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How many games does the league hand down here?
The suspension math starts with three factors. Was the hit reckless? Was contact with the head a focus point? Did the injury alter the player's availability?
The history of similar interference plays in the playoffs usually lands between one and three games. Repeat offender status changes the math.
This postseason has produced exactly these kinds of clips on a nightly basis. The Norris hit, the Xhekaj punch, the Manson butt end. The league has been busy.
Poehling has quietly been one of Joel Quenneville's best stories of these playoffs. The 27-year-old has 5 points across 10 games, including 4 goals and a game-winner.
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He's not a fourth-liner anymore. He's playing real minutes in real matchups against the Knights' top six.
Game 6 goes Thursday in Anaheim. Vegas was 19-14-8 on the road during the regular season. Decent. Not dominant. Now potentially shorter on the back end.
If the league hands down even a single game, the lineup card flips. Tortorella doesn't have an obvious replacement for McNabb's matchup minutes.
The Ducks didn't expect to be this close to the conference final. They are. Pat Verbeek's roster construction is two wins away from a stage nobody predicted in April.
The McNabb decision comes Wednesday. The series moves either way.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 12, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason McTavish | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Olen Zellweger | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||