Unnecessary Hit; Penguins 4, Kings 1

With just a few seconds left in a game that you're winning, is it really necessary to take a shot to someone's head? Well, Evgeni Malkin thought it was. He gave the cold shoulder to Wayne Simmonds and the whistle blew to end the game. I'm not even upset about the loss. Who gives a shit when someone's head is involved? Who cares if it's the league superstar hitting a rookie's head? In this case, every single Kings fan whereas every Pittsburgh fan probably cheered the hit. But let's talk about questionable acts of unsportsmanlike conduct from the past few days (of which I'm only discussing two because I'm feeling a bit lazy).

(1) Alexander Ovechkin's celebration after he scored his 50th goal of the season. I've read many reactions both for and against. I'm on the fence since he is who he is. He loves to celebrate his teammates' goals as well as his own, but this definitely involved a bit of showboating. He received a talking to by Bruce Boudreau and everyone moves on. Don Cherry's going to have a field day with this one.

(2) Penguins' Malkin laying a hit on Kings' Simmonds with just a few seconds left in a game that the Penguins were going to win. As with Ovechkin, there have been many comments going around about this hit both for and against. Comments like "Get your head up, rookie!" But wait a second, did this person not see that all Simmonds was trying to do was poke the puck away from Malkin? He wasn't going to him to with the intention of hitting him.

Earlier in the game he and Jack Johnson toughed it out in front of the Kings net for a good chunk of time where both players received 2-minutes for roughing. This altercation is a part of the game, but anyone who says that hitting someone else in the head is "a part of hockey" has never had someone on their own team taken a hit to the head. It's not about being an objective observer of every team when you have your specific team that you love; it's about the passion that every single fan brings to the NHL, which is why there will always be cheers and jeers in every situation.

(AP/Joe Sargent)

With Jack severely outweighing Malkin (225 to 195).

In the end, there are going to be comments all over the place with a questionable play such as this one from fans from every region across the US and Canada. But the plain facts are that (1) Simmonds' head was down in going for the poke check while (2) Malkin was defending himself by bracing for some kind of hit that was never going to come. In the end his shoulder goes straight into Simmonds' head. I think the argument of whether he was hit with the shoulder or elbow (legal or illegal) is not the point. The point is that the brunt of the hit was into Simmonds' head.

Malkin is subject to a disciplinary phone call where the resulting decision is to be announced tomorrow. Am I excepting a suspension? Hell no, who has the guts to suspend Malkin? Every situation is unique but I'm not expecting a fair trial here. Everyone has a hard-on for Malkin and the Penguins, so why should anyone care about Simmonds? I'm not saying I don't think the guy deserves punishment; I definitely think he deserves some sort of supplemental discipline. I just don't think the NHL is going to do anything about it considering who both players are.

(AP/Joe Sargent)

Oh yeah, the game. Just some quick notes on an unimpressive outing:

• It was Justin Williams' first game in a Kings sweater so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for this game since the entire team wasn't looking too hot. He had 13:36 minutes on the ice and one shot on net. He also had one recorded giveaway, but it definitely seemed to have happened more than just once.
  
• Alexander Frolov was allowed out of the doghouse, but is still chained to it. He had 17 minutes with one shot and one hit.
  
• They're definitely not ready for post-season play. The fact that it took a 5-on-3 to get a goal through all the traffic wasn't impressive. Impressive was the Penguins' penalty kill units. Aggressive and quick. They took 11 total penalties (with one as a 10-minute misconduct and others resulting in 4-on-4 play) but they were successful killing virtually all of them.
  
• The Kings finally got themselves over 50% in the faceoff circle. They won 60% while the Penguins went just 40%.
• Dustin Brown made a good showing with 7 hits and 6 shots on net.

(x-posted to HLOG)

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Hidden Gems – 8 - Randoms

NHL.com correspondent Chuck Gormley wrote his Atlantic division update for this week. At the end of his post, which was all about Brodeur, he mentioned Brian Berard and Bill Guerin returned to Islanders’ lineup last week. He also included this quote:

Guerin said the blurred vision that kept him out of one game reminded him of his teenage years. “It's kind of like you're sitting in your car and all your windows are fogged up, like if you're making out with a girl.”

Haha, nice.

*****

NHL.com staff writer Dan Rosen did an article on Washington Capital’s Nicklas Backstrom (19). This Swedish player has been working on his transition to American life off the ice and has been fortunate enough to have Michael Nylander (35) as a mentor. It’s true that mentors are supposed to help others in whatever situation they find themselves. In this instance, Backstrom is still learning English words here and there, and this little bit here is pretty funny.

Aiding Backstrom’s transition has been his smooth adaptation of the English language. He was forced to take English classes in Sweden as part of the regular curriculum, which means he’s ahead of most of the NHL’s Europeans in that department.

“You still have to apply it, though,” Backstrom said. “If I hear Americans or Canadians speaking I still have to pick up some words. It’s only good for me because I want to learn, but I still have a problem with some words.”

Added Nylander: “Carrot. He didn’t know what it meant. Some guys came to me and said; ‘How do you say carrot in Swedish?’ I said, ‘Just tell him a rabbit eats it.’ ”

*****

I came upon this article written by Adam Proteau that moved me over to this page from The Buffalo News. The article is about GM Darcy Regier speaking on the low scoring from his Buffalo Sabres and throughout the NHL. But the reason I bring this up is because of the second to last paragraph in the article. I mean, how many times can a person say the same word in a sentence before it starts to sound stupid? But not only does Regier use a word five times in the same sentence, he uses different versions of the word "play" a couple of times in the SAME SENTENCE. Please just read this out loud and you'll see what I mean.

“It still comes down really to two things,” Regier said. “The players playing the game and the future players playing the game have to choose to play this game because it’s the most fun game of any game available to play. That ensures the top athletes in this sport.

Total count: Game - 5; Play - 4. Wait a second, I'm going to go ahead and count "player" in the "play" count.

New count: Game - 5; Play - 6

*****

After reading the story written by Matt Moulson that was more uplifting than anything I’ve read lately (excluding Martin Brodeur’s 500th win. Well done.), I knew there’d be something I’d come across that would bring an eye roll or two. Case in point, when I read “Canucks call up Brown with Wild rematch looming” from ESPN.com, the article was doing fine with talking about Mattias Ohlund’s hit against Mikko Koivu’s leg. The facts were facts and there wasn't too much commentary from this Associated Press writer. That was, until I got to the end where they decided to interview 6’7”, 260-pound Derek “I Will Enforce You” Boogaard about the situation. What made my eyes roll was his reference to Canucks Markus Naslund, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin.

“Maybe I can go after, or check Naslund and those Pinky and the Brain twins.”

*sigh*

*****

But let’s end on a high note. Last Saturday morning I was sitting in an unnamed restaurant near my home. When the waiter came up and asked what I wanted to drink, I answered “water” while wondering where in the world I had seen this guy before. The whole time while he was taking our order, I STILL couldn’t pin point it. But once he walked away, the light bulb turned on. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jonathan Cheechoo works at this unnamed restaurant as his day job. Don’t let his name tag fool you; he might want to go by Miguel while working here (and on his tan), but I know the truth.

I’m sorry Cheechoo, but you’ve been exposed! …and you're a little shorter than I thought you were going to be…

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