The NHL has suspended for the fifth time this season a Philadelphia Flyers player, and for the first time, the league warned the team as well. 

Riley Cote was handed a three-game suspension on Monday for a brutal elbow on Dallas Stars Matt Niskanen late in Saturday's 4-1 Dallas victory. Cote was given a match penalty on the play. 

Cote is the fifth Flyers player to be suspended through 25 games this season, joining Scott Hartnell, Randy Jones, Jesse Boulerice and Steve Downie on the suspension train. 

On Monday, the NHL put Philadelphia's brass on notice as league commissioner Gary Bettman and disciplinarian Colin Campbell held a conference call with Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren.

"They're all different in their own right [the suspensions], but the fact that it's happened this number of times to us and hasn't happened to a lot of other teams, it's concerning to the league as it is to us," Holmgren told the Canadian Press.

"We've just got to play a little smarter. We want to play a hard game, an aggressive game, a physical game, but there's been instances where we've crossed the line.

"And we've just got to play more of a smart, physical game."

Last Tuesday, Hartnell was slapped with a two-game ban for a hit on Boston Bruins defenceman Andrew Alberts. Jones got two games for hitting Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron into the boards during an Oct. 27 contest.

Two other Philadelphia players were slapped with hefty suspensions for ugly incidents early this season.

Flyers forward Steve Downie was suspended 20 games after the 20-year-old prospect gave Ottawa Senators centre Dean McAmmond a concussion with a vicious hit in a pre-season game in September at Scotiabank Place.

McAmmond had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Just over two weeks later, Philadelphia tough guy Jesse Boulerice got a 25-game suspension after cross-checking Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler in the head.