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Jake Virtanen slams Joakim Nordstrom's head into boards (Video)

Jake Virtanen
Jake Virtanen pushes the head of Joakim Nordstrom into the boards.

Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen shoved the head of Carolina Hurricanes forward Joakim Nordstrom into the boards during their Sunday game.

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The play happened early in the third period as both players battled for a puck. Nordstrom went down and as he slid towards the boards, Virtanen used his arm to push Nordstrom’s head. No penalty was called on the play and Nordstrom stayed in the game.

Last season Virtanen was suspended two games for a late, blindside hit of Roman Polak. As a junior. Virtanen often found himself in the penalty box with 82 penalty minutes in 50 games in 2014-15 and 100 penalty minutes in 71 games in 2013-14. In 55 games with the Canucks last season as a rookie, Virtanen had 45 penalty minutes.

The Canucks ended up beating the Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime on a goal by Brandon Sutter. The Hurricanes built a 3-0 lead by the 5:28 mark of the second period before Vancouver came back on goals by Bo Horvat, Marks Granlund, Ben Hutton and then Sutter.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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