Bunting levelled by Ryan Hartman with a late hit, very slow to get up
With the Minnesota Wild in town to play the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 50% fan attendance at Scotiabank Arena were witness to a late, borderline blindside hit on rookie goal scoring leader Michael Bunting during the first period.
The play occurred approximately midway through the first frame after Bunting had carried the puck to the center of the ice in the offensive zone to create a scoring chance. The Scaroborough native had fired the puck on goal and continued skating across the ice when Wild center Ryan Hartman skated in from the blueline to intercept him and absolutely rocked Bunting in open ice, snapping his stick in half and sending him crashing hard down to the ice.
Bunting was very slow to get up after the play. Thankfully, he was able to make his way back to his feet and skate back to the Leafs' bench.
The obvious concern was whether or not Bunting may have hit his head on the ice when he came crashing down, but fortunately, he appeared to he okay and did not end up missing a shift. For as important as Bunting has been this season, it would have been catastrophic for the Leafs had he been injured on the play.
It will be interesting to see if the hit from Hartman will draw the attention of the NHL's Department of Player Safety. I'd say that, while it may be a little late, the hit was largely clean. One of those "keep your head up" type of lessons that Bunting will learn from.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 24 | 133 ANSWERS Bunting levelled by Ryan Hartman with a late hit, very slow to get up Was Hartman's hit dirty or clean? | ||
| Clean | 24 | 18 % |
| Borderline | 70 | 52.6 % |
| Dirty | 25 | 18.8 % |
| Suspension-worthy | 14 | 10.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
