Golden Knights Captain Facing Backlash After Controversial Play Against The Stars

Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone is currently facing backlash after he was involved in a collision that injured superstar defenseman Miro Heiskanen.

The Golden Knights were leading the Stars 3-2 in the third period before chaos erupted between two teams that have developed a bit of a rivalry. The Stars and Golden Knights have met in the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons and have played closely contested games throughout the regular season.

Tuesday night's game was no different and tempers flared when Stone was called for a tripping penalty on Heiskanen.

Stone attempted to poke check the puck off of Heiskanen but took out his left knee with his shoulder in the process. The Stars immediately came to the aid of Heiskanen and Stone was assessed a two-minute tripping penalty. Heiskanen was forced to exit the game and did not return. The Stars equalized shortly after the Stone penalty and won the game in overtime courtesy of a Wyatt Johnston natural hat trick.

In Stone's post-game media conference, he stated that he was tripped by Roope Hintz.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm looking to angle Heiskanen out and get a change, to be honest with you. And I go to reach to try and angle him out, and not sure who it was, tripped me kind of as I was falling forward. I mean, you never want to see guys get hurt. I really hope he's all right. But, I was just trying to make a play and got tripped into him. I hope the outcome is good. But there was really no intent there, obviously, I was just trying to make a play on the puck, and their guy kind of trips me into him head first. I'd never dive head first into a guy."

In the replay, Hintz does make contact with Stone's skate but the contact is very minimal. In slow motion, it looks as if Stone takes another step but in real time everything is moving so fast. What fans have been quick to point out is that Stone, in an attempt to poke the puck away from Heiskanen, lunges out and hits Heiskanen in the knee, but Stone doesn't agree with that statement.

"I'm not going to dive head first into the guy," said Stone. "I'm clearly just trying to reach to make a play, and then the guy trips me as I'm making that play. The outcome is obviously not ideal for me or him. I don't want to make that play. I'm not a dirty player. Like I said, I would never try to dive head first at a guy and try and get him. I was just trying to reach for the puck and make a play on the puck, and somebody got their stick on my blade and I fell down."

At the moment, it's unclear if Stone will have a hearing or will be fined for the infraction but the initial report coming from Stars HC Pete DeBoer is that it's not looking great for Heiskanen.

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