Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak suspended three games for hit on Capitals’ Alexander Alexeyev

SUNRISE, Fla. – Seattle Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak will miss the rest of the team’s road trip after being handed a three-game suspension without pay for a head shot delivered in Friday night’s loss to the Washington Capitals.

The NHL Department of Player Safety ruled that Oleksiak violated two elements of the league’s illegal check to the head rule when he leveled Washington Capitals defenseman Alexander Alexeyev behind the Kraken’s net. It said the principal contact was made with Alexeyev’s head and that Oleksiak did not take a route that could have dealt a blow to his torso instead.

It was the second time since October that Oleksiak was flagged for a check to the head, which possibly added to the severity of the suspension he now faces. The suspension will cost Oleksiak $74,594.58 in salary, and the Kraken will be left to play the remainder of this road trip without him starting Sunday against the Florida Panthers and continuing for games Tuesday at Tampa Bay and Thursday at Carolina.

The Kraken, who’ve lost three straight games, were locked in a 1-1 tie with the Capitals when Oleksiak delivered the blow midway through the second period.

Alexeyev, who’d just notched his first NHL point on a secondary assist a few minutes prior, lay on the ice for a substantial period before leaving with an upper-body injury and not returning.

The Capitals had provided no further updates on his injury as of Saturday afternoon.

Oleksiak was assessed a five-minute match penalty on the play.

The Kraken killed off the first 3-plus minutes of the penalty before Marcus Johansson scored a power-play goal that put the Capitals ahead to stay in an eventual 4-1 win.

In October, Oleksiak was penalized 2 minutes for an illegal check to the head on Blake Lizotte of the Los Angeles Kings. But the play was ruled incidental, allowing him to avoid a major penalty and any further discipline at the time.

The Kraken will likely insert Cale Fleury into the lineup for Sunday night’s game here against the Panthers and could recall an extra defenseman from the AHL in Oleksiak’s absence.