*

Joe Thornton was sitting in the penalty box for the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night, having been whistled for an infraction against Paul Stastny of the St. Louis Blues.
Perhaps he thought it was a roughing call, because when he heard that he had received a five-minute major for spearing and a game-misconduct, he seemed generally stunned by it.
Here’s the play, and the reaction:

Stastny gives him a tap, and he retaliates with his stick. It’s not a vicious spear, but a spear nonetheless, and the referees rung him up. The Sharks ended up losing 4-0 to goalie Carter Hutton and the Blues.
As you can see, Thornton got into it with the Blues bench on his way out.
Here’s how captain Alex Pietrangelo reacted to the incident:

That Alex Pietrangelo. So itchy.

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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