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| - Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri has been suspended pending a hearing for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk, the NHL said Thursday. Kadri appeared to put a shoulder into Faulk's head in the incident in the third period of Colorado's 6-3 victory on Wednesday night that put the Avs up 2-0 in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series. Canada's Kadri was assessed a match penalty and a five-minute major penalty. Faulk exited the game and his teammates later called for Kadri to be suspended. "That's a very dangerous hit," Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly said. "It's got to be a suspension." On Thursday the league offered Kadri an in-person hearing with the Department of player Safety, a move made "if the infraction might require a suspension of six games or more," the league said in a statement. "In this case, Kadri is suspended until the hearing takes place. If Kadri waives his right to an in-person hearing, the hearing will be conducted by phone." If the Department of Player Safety finds the illegal check merits a suspension, it can then consider Kadri's history in determining the severity of the punishment. He was twice suspended in the playoffs -- in 2018 and 2019 -- while with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 2019 he was suspended for a cross-check on Boston's Jake DeBrusk, missing the last five games of a first-round series the Leafs would lose in seven games. They traded him to the Avalanche in the following off-season. "The guy can't control himself," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "In the playoffs he's a repeat offender, bad hits. "He had a guy in a vulnerable position and picks nothing but the head," Schenn said. bb/dj
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