Hit on Kings’ Tyler Toffoli leads to suspension, fine for Mark Borowiecki

Right wing Tyler Toffoli was fortunate to emerge with nothing more than tightness in his neck after he was slammed into the glass Saturday by Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki. But Toffoli’s mother, Mandy, watching at home near Toronto, didn’t immediately know that her son was deemed fine by the Kings’ trainer and by two team doctors after he was told to follow the NHL’s new concussion protocol.

“I knew I was fine but I felt bad because my mom was freaking out,” Toffoli said Sunday. “So I called her afterward. She was trying to get as much information as she could but that’s pretty standard. Every mother would do the same thing.”

Borowiecki was given a five-minute boarding penalty, and the Kings capitalized on that advantage twice in a 4-1 victory. The NHL on Sunday suspended Borowiecki without pay for two games, costing him $12,222.22. “With sufficient time to avoid or minimize the hit, Borowiecki instead hits forcefully through Toffoli’s numbers, driving him dangerously into the glass,” the Department of Player Safety said in a video.

Toffoli hedged when asked if the suspension was the right decision, but in his mind justice prevailed. “Whatever the league chooses,” he said. “But he got the time — five minutes. We scored two goals on it. Won us the game. So it’s all good.”

Defenseman Matt Greene fought Borowiecki to avenge the hit. Greene lost but had no regrets. “He plays a physical game. I think he knew it was coming, too,” Greene said. “It’s part of hockey. It was part of the game long before I came around and a long time after I’m gone.

“It’s just being a teammate. I happened to line up next to him right away. There’s a lot of guys on this team that want to stick up for Tyler. Everybody has different jobs on this team but that’s one where everybody can be a good teammate and everybody can help each other out.”

NHL disciplinary moves are unpredictable, and Coach Darryl Sutter said he was surprised by the suspension. “It’s a real vague rule,” Sutter said. “So Tyler gets up because he’s a tough guy and goes off the ice and then there’s concussion protocol after. If he lays on the ice, is the guy kicked out of the game? There’s so many different ways to look at it.”

Etc.

Defenseman Drew Doughty, who flexed his leg Saturday after unintentionally doing the splits late in the game, didn’t practice with the team Sunday but skated before the group came onto the ice. “Just a precaution. Three or four guys are banged up and want to make sure they’re ready for Buffalo,” Sutter said of the start of a stretch of nine straight road games.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick, out since he suffered a groin injury in the season opener, was at the Kings’ practice facility Sunday wearing a New York Giants jersey with Lawrence Taylor’s name on it. It will be a long time before Quick wears a Kings jersey in a game again. “He’s just starting really moving a little bit into training and therapy. Still very much in the rehab mode,” Sutter said. “We’re still talking about a month before you could even begin to say what the next step was. It’s not in this [calendar] year before there’s any sort of update.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Twitter: @helenenothelen