Man, the crazy pills I must be on...
Engaging with another player? Where does this come from? In both hits, Kassian had control of the puck and was driving for the front of the net. If he was along the boards with Gio, I could maybe understand the outrage. That is not what happened. If MT does not make those hits the puck carrier is able to come out from behind the net and gets a scoring chance.
I see people thinking MT is a puke and has a punchable face. Sure. But is he a "dirty" player? He has not licked anyone, fish hooked anyone, pulled hair, bit hands, run from behind, on and on. He plays hard and is aggravating. That is not dirty.
This should have been a classic take his number and get him later scenario. That would be fair. Hit MT with a body check, that would be fair. Psych out attack with a horse collar? Crazy town.
Having said that, Boomer and Sarich think the punishment was adequate as it was 14 minutes in-game and the player was in the box when the GWG was scored. They think that was enough. I don't really agree with that but in that context, 2 games seem to be fine to me. Ryan Whitney also had a reasonable take on Spittin Chiclets, which I was surprised by. MT DOES NOT HAVE TO FIGHT. He should, but he does not need to. Both him and biz thought they were questionable hits as ZK does not expect a winger to be there. I don't really get this point but it is an interesting perspective. I guess I just think if you have the puck in the offensive zone, you should probably be expecting a hit.
I do wish the NHL had addressed the misogynist comment and the threats but hoping the NHL will do the right thing is a fool's errand.
I was also surprised to see that MT is 6'2" 205 and ZK is 6'3" 212. Pretty close actually.
|