Scheifele to have hearing for hit on Evans

Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele will have a hearing Thursday for charging Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens after an empty-net goal late in Wednesday’s 5-3 Game 1 loss.

Since Scheifele was not offered an in-person hearing by the league’s department of player safety, the maximum suspension he can face is five games.

Scheifele was given a major penalty and a game misconduct with a minute left for the hit in Game 1, which caused Evans to be stretchered off the ice.

With the Habs up 4-3 in the final minute and Connor Hellebuyck on the bench for the extra attacker, Evans corralled the puck behind the Winnipeg net and tucked it in for a two-goal Montreal lead. As Evans pushed the puck across the goal line, Scheifele charged directly into Evans at full speed.

NHL: Canadiens 5, Jets 3

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Staal scored less than two minutes apart early in the first period, Nick Suzuki netted his third of the playoffs and Brendan Gallagher added another on the power play in the third, as the Canadiens downed the Jets to take Game 1. Jake Evans was stretchered off late after taking a high hit from Mark Scheifele. MTL leads series 1-0.

Evans lay motionless on the ice as a scrum ensued nearby, where Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers shielded Evans with his body.

“I came back and saw he wasn’t looking good. I was just trying to keep everyone away from him,” Ehlers said.

Evans appeared to give a thumbs up as he left the playing surface on a stretcher. He was also celebrating his 25th birthday on Wednesday.

“It was a dirty hit but the league’s going to take care of it. If [Scheifele] gets back in the series we’re gonna make his life miserable,” Habs defenceman Joel Edmundson said after the game.

“No, he’s still here, he’s being evaluated,” head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “He’s doing better, but before I came here he was still being evaluated.”

Ducharme also called the hit “useless.”

Game 2 of the second-round series will take place Friday night from Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg.