I thought it was a cheap hit and bad penalty. It definitely isn't a classic hip check. The guy needs to stop folding in half every time a hit is coming. Emelin's record has nothing to do with it in my opinion.
It's not a "classic hip check" as those hits the players normally are coming perpendicular to each other. Player X with the puck is skating up the boards and Player Y skates sideways towards the boards to squish the player between his hip and the boards.
Marchand's hit comes almost head on, and that is the main difference. It's still a hip check, because the point of contact is hip on hip, but much more dangerous because his momentum can cause the player being hit to flip.
It was called clipping on the ice, which is clearly wrong. Clipping is defined in the rules as hitting across the knees. It might look similar to a clip from far away, but close up you see the point of contact is a foot above his knees. It was a bit late (.5 seconds I think I read?), and regardless it was still a dangerous play, but according to the rule book it's legal.
The NHL needs to look at these low-bridge/submarine hits/hip checks in the offseason and more clearly define the rules regarding them. It needs to be explicitly stated what is allowed and what isn't.
The Peverley situation is far worse. I went back and looked at it again and it definitely doesn't look good. Evidently he's
back in Boston.
Time to hit the trade deadline hard and refill the tanks. Spend some of that $11M in cap space or whatever it is.
Hal Gill did a great Ulf Samuelsson impression on that play. I'm going under the assumption that Peverley has a season-ending knee injury, and any news otherwise will be a pleasant surprise.
Chiarelli needs to get on the phones now. He's out a top 6 player and the only player in his lineup that was a passable top-6 fill in. You don't make playoff runs with a third line consisting of Jordan Caron, Zach Hamill, and Josh Hennessey.
Call up Anaheim, tell them everything outside of Bergeron, Lucic, Seguin, Marchand, Chara, Thomas, Rask, Boychuk, Seidenburg, and Hamilton are fair game, and see what it would take to get Bobby Ryan.
Krejci, Spooner, and a 1st?
Pouliot's goal was sweet. Second one of those he's had this year. If he could get a bit more consistent maybe he fills a spot.
Maybe that will help him out of the slump he has been in the past 10-15 games.
In other news:
Montreal fans clearly have no class. Where I'm from you don't cheer a player getting hurt.
http://video.thescore.com/watch/chara-takes-puck-to-face-montreal-fans-cheer. Plekanec showed some class.
None of this is a surprise anymore. These clowns are the ones who booed the national anthem.
Despite the shootout win this was another crappy effort. They almost gave away the game to a crummy team after a 3-1 lead. Chara "led" the team @ minus-3 with an amazing number of turnovers. Krejci another minus-1 effort (now minus-6 for the season) though he did manage to win more FOs last night.
Chara looked horrible at the end of the game last night, but you can't tell how much of that was residual effect of being drilled in the face by the puck.
I expect to see Tuukka in goal against the Jets on Friday night. Hopefully the effort will be there in front of him.
