Ex-Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Evgeny Artyukhin has been banned for three games by the KHL for elbowing an opponent in the head, the league said Tuesday.

Artyukhin was banned twice in his four-year NHL career with the Lightning, Anaheim Ducks and Atlanta Thrashers, and has a checkered KHL disciplinary record.

Artyukhin floored Swedish wing Niklas Persson with an elbow to the head from behind during SKA’s 3-2 home defeat to Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk on Wednesday.

The typical two-match ban was extended by an extra game for previous disciplinary problems, most recently when a knee hit earned him a three-game ban in February.

Artyukhin also played a leading role in a notorious mass brawl between the Russian and Finnish national teams in the Euro Hockey Tour last year.

He played 199 NHL games from 2005 to 2010.

The defenseman suffered a personal loss last month when his brother Sergei, a former European Greco-Roman wrestling champion, died of a heart attack aged 35.