The Pittsburgh Penguins played host to the Winnipeg Jets last night, but while the Pens skated away with a 3-0 victory, they did not do so with a full compliment of players. At 4:15 of the second period, Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon lined up former Leaf Noel Acciari for a hard hit in the neutral zone. The problem was that Dillon caught Acciari in the head, sending his helmet flying through the air.
Acciari was very slow to get up on the play and would need the help of his teammates to make it to the bench and down the tunnel. Dillon was assessed a 5-minute match penalty on the play and very likely has a meeting with the Department of Player Safety pending.
These types of hits have no place in the game of hockey. Dillon got all head and very little body on this hit and it's the sort of play that should come with a hefty suspension, in excess of 5 games. We'll see what George Parros' gameshow wheel over at Player Safety says, but if it comes up as 5 games or less, something is obviously broken over at the DoPS.
POLL | ||
7 FEVRIER | 394 ANSWERS Must see: Jets defenseman ejected after nearly taking a former Leaf's head off How many games does Brenden Dillon deserve to be suspended for over his hit on Noel Acciari? | ||
1-3 games. Wasn't that bad | 134 | 34 % |
4-5 games, it was an ugly hit | 163 | 41.4 % |
Over 5 games. Predatory hit. | 97 | 24.6 % |
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