[AustinL_NHL]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Alright, I'll weigh in.

As a hit goes, it's 100% clean, but he did track him back halfway across the rink, so I guess I understand calling it a charging penalty in some sense, but Bennett was gliding for 3 seconds before he hit him. It's not blind side, he hits him in the chest/shoulder, and he doesn't jump up or anything. It's just a mean and rough hit, and a young kid got blow up because he was assuming he wasn't going to get blown up at that point in the game.

The penalty is called to defuse the situation. I don't really mind that, but let's not pretend that a hit like that at any other point in the game or a tie score would warrant a penalty call. It's game management. Fine, so be it.

I feel like we've lost an appreciation for hard, but legal hits in the game. That's a play to not only prevent an empty net goal, but also send a warning to the other team to not take you lightly and don't assume anything.

That kid had zero awareness, and that's why he got hammered. Perhaps he'll have a little more sense the next time and at least avoid a hit or try to protect himself. It's still part of the game, so let's not make some bogus argument because it was a particularly violent hit.

^ this ×1000000000