The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang has been suspended one game for interference after hitting the Capitals’ Marcus Johansson late in game three of this playoff series.
The verdict is in: Kris Letang is suspended for one game, thanks to his dangerous hit on Marcus Johansson in game three of the Pittsburgh Penguins – Washington Capitals series.
During the game he was given a two minute penalty for interference, and that’s the same standard the NHL’s Department of Player Safety held him to in today’s hearing. There was some debate following the hit last night that they would choose to see it more as an illegal hit to the head instead of interference. However, the DoPS ruled that it did not violate the rule governing that, despite clear contact with Johansson’s head.
Johansson did not practice with the team today, but he did return to the game last night. That also played a role in the decision.
Additionally, the DoPS said that Letang didn’t “charge” Johansson, nor did he leave his feet to throw the hit. Your opinion of that may depend on which angle you watch the hit from, but they see what they see, I guess.
This is the second such hit of this series alone. Brooks Orpik received a three game suspension for throwing a late, high hit on Olli Maatta in game two – also ruled interference. These hits weren’t identical by any means, but the Orpik ruling ensured that Letang would get some kind of penalty.
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Letang is a great hockey player and has undoubtedly saved the Penguins many, many times this season. However, he really needs to get himself under control on the ice sometimes. Getting fired up and involved in the game is awesome, and that kind of passion is integral to winning. Not being able to control those feelings and throwing bad hits or taking unnecessary penalties is not.
Everyone does it sooner or later, that isn’t the point. But Letang’s tunnel vision and immediate need to harangue the referees and/or opponents whenever the tiniest thing doesn’t go his way often hurts the Penguins more than helps.
Frankly, there’s a pretty obvious reason why he doesn’t have an “A” on his sweater.
The Penguins are now missing their top two defensemen. Maatta may play again this series, but probably won’t be back by game four. Letang and Maatta eat a lot of minutes – if you’ve somehow forgotten, Letang played 36 minutes in game two – and haven’t left small shoes to fill.
This season, the Penguins are 2-8-1 when Letang is out of the lineup, which is a horrifying statistic. On the other hand, they didn’t have the brilliant Matt Murray backstopping them in those contests. Though Murray can’t carry the whole game himself, he can certainly keep the Penguins in it enough for the offensive stars to score.
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Justin Schultz will be the defenseman slotting back in the lineup with Letang and Maatta both missing. Both he and Derrick Pouliot made their NHL playoff debuts this season – Pouliot’s only coming last night – and are a big question.
Bryan Rust was also injured in game three blocking a shot, and didn’t return after heading to the locker room in the first period. He’s considered questionable to be in the lineup for game four. Without him and Letang, the Pens lineup just got a lot slower.
Game four is in Pittsburgh again, and the puck will drop at 8 pm tomorrow. Scraping out a win will be hard, but heading back to Washington with a 3-1 series lead – without Letang in, no less – would be worth it.