Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has been suspended one game for his high stick on Michael Raffl of the Philadelphia Flyers, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Tuesday.

Malkin was assessed a match penalty after swinging his stick at Raffl's head with under five minutes remaining in the third period of Monday night's game.

The league acknowledged Malkin was retaliating after Raffl punched him in the back of the head but stated he swung his stick "at a dangerous height."

Malkin said earlier Tuesday he didn't expect to be suspended because "it's not like I broke his face."

While the NHL said it understood his point, it explained that his reasoning doesn't excuse his actions, adding stick infractions don't require contact to warrant discipline.

The Penguins superstar will miss Wednesday's contest against the Edmonton Oilers.

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