In the Devils' 3-2 loss to the Flyers, what will get plenty of attention is Jeff Carter's hit that injured defenseman Anssi Salmela after he scored shorthanded 61 seconds into the second period. In reviewing it, the first angle looked worse with him catching the reacquired D a little late after he'd released the puck.
The debate is whether it was cheap. In Carter's defense, he was coming hard on the backcheck and seemed to be making a hockey play. However, it doesn't look good. Especially on a team synonymous for these types of hits. Mike Richards had one earlier on David Booth who was concussed and finally just returned. Fortunately, Salmela, who was taken off on a stretcher only suffered a fractured broken nose and some missing teeth. Good news for the Devils, whose blueline was weakened in the Ilya Kovalchuk deal. Puck Daddy's Sean Leahy has more on the controversial play.
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2 comments:
Was the blueline really weakened in the Kovalchuk deal? Salmela's done more in three games than Oduya has the whole season, amazingly enough. Too bad it hasn't helped the offense yet which was the object of the deal to begin with (four goals in three games not counting the three-minute spasm against a bad Leafs team).
I would still say Johnny 5 is a better D than Salmela. He needed a change. Salmela ain't chopped liver. Just saying.
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