Paul Byron was starting to heat up as he’s totaled three points over his past two games, but he’ll have to wait another week before he can try to add to that streak after he was handed a three-game suspension on Wednesday afternoon.
The 29-year-old received the suspension for his hit on Florida Panthers defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the second period of the Canadiens’ 5-1 win on Tuesday night, which forced the 25-year-old to miss the remainder of the game.
Shortly after receiving the first suspension of his 397-game career Byron issued an apology on Instagram.
“I accept and respect the decision made by the department of player safety. I would like to make ti clear I had no intention of causing injury or finishing my check through MacKenzie Weeger’s head. I think my history and the way I conduct myself on the ice show a lack of intent to injure other players. Despite the lack of intention, I have to accept responsibility for my hit and realize the result of the hit was to the head and caused injury. I would like to sincerely apologize for my hit and wish MacKenzie all the best and hope he is okay. Ive learnt a lesson through this and will make sure any future hits result in a clean and legal fashion.”
We don’t always see players issue apologies for things that lead to suspensions, but it was a nice gesture by Byron.
(H/T Instagram/paulbyron.41)
