Sabres’ defenseman Connor Clifton has been suspended for two games for an illegal check to the head of New Jersey’s Nico Hischier, NHL Player Safety announced Saturday.

The hit came during the 16-minute mark of the first period of Friday’s game against the Devils. Clifton was ejected after the high hit on the New Jersey center.

Clifton said on Saturday that he hopes Hischier is OK and insists that he didn't mean to make head contact. 

"First and foremost, you hope he's OK," Clifton said on Saturday. "Obviously, getting kicked out of the game, I watched it after. I was glad to see him come back. I've always tried to play hard, in the right way. I think I've proven that. [I've played] almost 300 games with zero incidents [and] zero fines. I mistimed the hit, simple as that."

Hischier played in the second, but did not return for the third period. New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff says Hischier will miss Sunday's game as well.

"It’s a fast game," Clifton said. "Obviously, I've watched it 100 times. Obviously, I wished I took a different approach.”

Head coach Don Granato says the Sabres will look to add more minutes to their top four defensemen’s plates, especially Rasmus Dahlin, who has had a relatively lighter load to start the year than he ended on.

Clifton will lose nearly $35,000 in pay, and that money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund, the league's Department of Player Safety announced Saturday.

“Regardless of what he did, I guess, as a hitter, it’s your responsibility to throw the safe hit,” Clifton said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t do that. I’m glad he wasn’t injured on the play and he came back. So I got to just be a little better moving forward and time it a little better and not put myself in that situation.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.