Carolina Hurricanes forward Ryan Bayda has been fined $2,500 by the National Hockey League as a result of the match penalty he was assessed at 18:41 of the third period Thursday night.

According to Rule 21.2 in the NHL Rulebook, any player who receives a match penalty "shall be automatically suspended from further competition until the Commissioner has ruled on the issue." After a review by NHL Senior Executive Vice President, Hockey Operations Colin Campbell the League chose to fine Bayda the maximum amount and not suspend him.

Bayda was assessed the match penalty under Rule 60.4 after exchanging high sticks with Penguins defenseman Kris Letang behind Pittsburgh's net toward the end of Pittsburgh's 7-4 win. The incident led to two fights and Letang also received a game misconduct.

Bayda was not available to the media following Thursday night's game, but Letang said Friday after the Penguins optional practice that Bayda got him right in the mouth.

"There was a little frustration, but it was not a hard one," Letang said, adding that he was just trying to defend himself and didn't "want to throw any punch or get injured in those types of things at the end of the game."

Letang, who fought Tim Gleason after the incident while Miroslav Satan and Patrick Eaves exchanged blows, didn't seem to care if Bayda was going to be suspended or not.

"I'm not the guy who gives the suspension," he said. "There are people hired for that and they have to make the decision."

Contact Dan Rosen at drosen@nhl.com