Penguins Barnes suspended

Archived from 1997-98 season.
The NHL suspended Pittsburgh Penguins center Stu Barnes four games and fined him $1,000 for viciously slashing Boston Bruins rookie center Joe Thornton in a preseason game at Worcester, Mass., on Tuesday. Barnes will miss the two remaining Penguins' pre-season games as well as the two first games of the regular season.

The incident occurred in the first period and no penalty was assessed on the play, but Thornton suffered a fractured bone above his left wrist and is expected to be sidelined from six to eight weeks.

"Mr. Barnes' use of a two-handed, baseball-grip slash in an attempt to check his opponent was careless and resulted in serious injury to Mr. Thornton," said NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Brian Burke.

Barnes, who has already served the first game of his suspension (Sept. 24 versus Boston), will miss the Penguins' final preseason game at Philadelphia on Saturday and his club's first two games of the regular season against Los Angeles on Oct. 1 and at Carolina on Oct. 3.

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