The NHL Player Safety announced on Tuesday that New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller has been suspended three games for spitting on Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings. Miller was ejected from Sunday’s win over the Kings after he spat on Doughty and received a game misconduct in the first period. Miller will miss games against the Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, and Boston Bruins while he serves his suspension.
Following the game, Miller had posted an apology on social media, claiming that spitting on Doughty was accidental: “I have all the respect in the world for Drew Doughty, and what happened was completely accidental. I would never intend to do something like that on purpose. It goes against everything I am as a person and player. I felt awful about it, and I am thankful Drew gave me the opportunity to apologize and explain myself in person after the game.”
Doughty told reporters during his postgame press conference that he was surprised by what happened, but he wasn’t sure whether Miller meant to do it: “I was just shocked, obviously …I don’t even know if I said anything to him after, but I just immediately went to the ref to try to get the penalty. You don’t want to see things like that in this game. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. I’m sure it has happened, but not that I’ve seen. It’s unfortunate and whether or not he meant to do it, I have no idea. It’s a pretty big loogie on my face, so I was pretty p***ed.”
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