Avalanche Defenseman Receives Double-Minor for Butt-Ending Wild Forward

An altercation during the first period of Game 4 between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild resulted in a double-minor penalty for butt-ending assessed to an Avalanche defenseman. The defenseman struck a Wild forward in the side of the head with the butt end of his stick after the two wrestled on the ice following a hard check.

The forward went down in pain and the Wild scored on the ensuing power play.

The forward criticized the defenseman's actions in an intermission interview and continued after the game. "I blew him up, and he grabbed me and pulled me on top of him," he said. "He took his butt end and clearly butt-ended me in the face.

The series shifts back to Denver for Game 5. According to Sportsnet, the defenseman said he lost awareness of where his hand was on his stick when he took a swing at the forward.

"My intention wasn't to butt-end him. Did I want to punch him in the head? I did want to punch him in the head," the defenseman said. The defenseman added that he was angry at the forward for falling on him after the check.

The incident occurred after the forward checked the defenseman hard and wound up on top of him, leading to wrestling between the two players before the stick contact.