Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot was suspended for three games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for an illegal head check on the Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser.

Jeannot received a match penalty at 10:44 of the first period during the Kings’ 4-2 loss to the Canucks in Los Angeles on Thursday night. As Boeser passed the puck near the red line, Jeannot fired a high right shoulder shot that hit Boeser’s head.

“The fact that the referees are calling five minutes, it’s obviously a dangerous hit,” the defender said Quinn Hughes after the match.

The NHL ruled that Jeannot “cut across the front of Boeser’s body, missing his core and making his head the primary point of contact, on a shot where such contact was inevitable.”

The blow met two requirements for illegal head control: that the head be the primary point of contact, even if there is contact with other parts of Boeser’s body; and that although Boeser was likely to be hit, Jeannot took the wrong approach in handing over what was considered an illegal check.

This was only Jeannot’s second encounter with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. He was fined $2,000 for taking a knee Brady Tkachuk in March 2022, while Jeannot was a member of the Nashville Predators.

Under the terms of the collective agreement and based on his average annual salary, Jeannot will lose $41,640.63. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

NHL players can appeal any on-ice disciplinary action to Commissioner Gary Bettman within 48 hours of a decision, but Jeannot cannot later appeal to a neutral referee because his suspension is less than six games .

Jeannot has a goal and an assist in 15 games with the Kings, who acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning during the offseason. He leads the NHL with 36 penalty minutes.

Boeser is tied for second in Canucks scoring with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 12 games.