Nikita Kucherov fined for ‘dangerous trip’

Nikita Kucherov committed two of the Lightning’s four penalties against the Islanders on Friday. Now, he is paying for one of them.

The Department of Player Safety announced Saturday that Kucherov will be fined $5,000, the maximum allowed by the CBA, for his “dangerous trip” of Scott Mayfield.

Kucherov had just tangled with another Islander on the play, then came up alongside Mayfield and pulled his leg up, catching Mayfield’s leg and upending them both in a nasty trip. The two teams immediately met in front of the Islanders' bench, where the play took place and squared off.

The Islanders were persistent in hounding Kucherov the rest of the game. His frustration (likely with them and himself in a scoreless game, just after whiffing on a shot) may have boiled over in overtime. Thus came the second penalty, a obvious, blatant cross-check to Nick Leddy.

The $5,000 fine represents eight percent of his pay for the one game. Kucherov has an average-annual value of 4,766,667, per capfriendly.com.