The San Jose Sharks center was disciplined Monday for an illegal check to the head against Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek at 16:45 of the second period in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round on Sunday. Thornton received a minor penalty.
Thornton will be out for Game 4 at Vegas on Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS2, ATTSN-RM, NBCSCA). He is eligible to return for Game 5 at San Jose.
The Golden Knights defeated the Sharks 6-3 in Game 3 on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
San Jose is trying to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four seasons. It lost the 2016 Final to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
