McDavid, Myers face hearings for cross-checking ejections

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers will have hearings for cross-checking incidents that earned match penalties at the end of Saturday night's contest, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced.

The hearings are set for Monday afternoon. Edmonton and Vancouver resume their schedules Tuesday.

Match penalties are automatically reviewed by the league.

McDavid and Conor Garland got tied up in the dying seconds of the contest with the Oilers pushing to tie the game. The Canucks forward avoided a penalty for pinning down McDavid, and the superstar retaliated by cross-checking Garland up high. Myers caught Evan Bouchard in the ensuing scrum.

Edmonton went on to lose 3-2.

Garland and Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch chalked McDavid's hit up to frustration.

"He's a passionate guy, he's a good dude," Garland said postgame of McDavid, according to Noah Strang of Offside. "Everybody has the fire in their belly trying to win a hockey game, so that's stuff that happens."

"There's a rivalry. Connor gets frustrated," Knoblauch said, according to Jamie Umbach of NHL.com. "He gets his stick up, and he's frustrated because we're down one goal and the best player in the league is getting held for 15 seconds. There's frustration that that's allowed to happen, and his stick got up."

According to Rule 21 of the NHL's handbook, "A match penalty shall be imposed on any player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner." The player will also be held out of further competition until the league makes its ruling.

McDavid also got into some hot water Wednesday after he caught Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson up high with his elbow, though the superstar avoided supplemental discipline on the play.

The 28-year-old McDavid was suspended for two games in 2019 for an illegal check to the head of Nick Leddy. Myers, meanwhile, has two career suspensions: He got three games for boarding in 2012 and another three for a hit to the head in 2014.