Quote:
Originally Posted by IgiTang
There was more to that hit than just playing hard D.
Ristolainen was making a statement. Hard play on a star, fine. But no one holds him accountable? And he carries on to score a hat-trick? Ferland going out and being physical was too little too late.
The good guys won. Johnny scores the winner. Guess it's OK.
But what if Johnny didn't come back and was sent to the quiet room?
Is it then a dirty play? He was targeted. Plain and simple. Is targeting star players not supposed to be a no no?
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Targeting an opposing key player is fine. I would think it's encouraged.
If you can get a guy off his game by hitting him, do that! Just make sure the hits are clean. I didn't see anything wrong with Ristolainen's hit on Gaudreau, and if David Jones didn't happen to be skating behind him at that exact moment, Johnny would have just been pushed down. No big deal.
I agree it would be nice to see some of our tougher guys be a little harder on some of their players after they target our top players, but There was nothing wrong with what Ristolainen did.