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Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien fined $2,018.23 for roughing Vancouver’s Sam Lafferty

Originally posted on Daily Faceoff | By Mike Gould | Last updated 1/19/24

Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien has been fined $2,018.23, the maximum allowable under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA, for roughing Vancouver Canucks forward Sam Lafferty on Thursday night.

O’Brien racked up seven penalty minutes in the Coyotes’ 2–1 loss to the Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The first two came at the 5:26 mark of the first period, when O’Brien left the Arizona bench and took on Lafferty as a form of retribution for a hit Lafferty had thrown earlier in the game.

Lafferty did not engage with O’Brien, who dropped his gloves and immediately started punching the Canucks forward repeatedly before being restrained by the officials. O’Brien was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for roughing on the play.

Liam O'Brien attacks Sam Lafferty at the Canucks bench

️: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/H7rhYgvDFL
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) January 19, 2024

Tempers continued to flare in the first period of Thursday’s game, with Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov electing to drop the gloves with O’Brien for an actual fight at the 12:19 mark.

O’Brien is now the NHL’s penalty minute leader with 105 this season. He has taken 18 more penalties than he has drawn thus far in 2023–24, good for the worst penalty differential in the National Hockey League.

Asked about the incident between O’Brien and Lafferty on Thursday, Coyotes head coach André Tourigny opted not to address it in his reply and instead shifted the focus to what he saw as the more positive aspects of the game.

O’Brien, 29, is in his third season with the Coyotes after joining the organization as an unrestricted free agent in 2021. The Halifax, Nova Scotia product has three goals and seven points in 43 games with the Coyotes this season.

Through 167 career NHL games with the Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, and Washington Capitals, O’Brien has collected nine goals, 26 points, and 393 penalty minutes. He’s under contract through the end of the 2023–24 season at a $775,000 cap hit.

This article first appeared on Daily Faceoff and was syndicated with permission.

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