Player Safety Announces Punishment on Kings' Adrian Kempe for actions against Connor McDavid

The Oilers media was critical of this slewfoot from Kempe, earlier calling on the NHL to take action for this slewfoot. A fine is the appropriate punishment.

Late in the third period, Kempe upended McDavid in brutal fashion well after the Oilers center dished the puck.

Unbelievably, the officials didn't catch the play from Kempe and call it a penalty. It's appropriate that Player Safety picks up where the referees missed, and actually dish some punishment for a dirty play like this.

Thankfully, Connor McDavid wasn't injured on the play. However, the lack of penalty called shows just how much the NHL fails to protect its stars on the ice.

If the Edmonton Oilers are going to match up against a physical teams, they may have to get tougher to deal with clowns like Kempe trying to push around their stars.

Earlier in the game too, Kings forward Alex Laferrière stood up and threw down Connor McDavid. Thankfully, Kapanen stuck up for the captain.

The Oilers bagged down a greasy 1-0 win to take the win from their playoff rivals, and send a message that they can play any brand of hockey.

The entire Oilers team needs to stand up for each other and get tougher as a bunch. But as a playoff veteran team, they can surely turn it on when springtime comes.