Who says that a game between the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals can’t be interesting? Four minutes into Friday night’s game, Mike Green did his best Patrice Cormier impersonation to Michael Frolik’s face. We’ll see how long the suspension is—assuming there is no preferential treatment. If this was someone like Daniel Carcillo or Aaron Downey, we’d be talking about a 20 game suspension. Since Green is an All-World defenseman, we’ll see if he even gets 5 games.
Retribution (if you want to call it that) was paid in the next period as Mike Green entered the Panthers zone on a rush. While lunging for a puck, Dmitry Kulikov drove his shoulder though Green’s chest. Unfortunately for Green and the Caps, Green and Kulikov connected knee-to-knee in the middle of the hit—with Mike Green getting the worst of the collision. Hopefully, the injury isn’t as bad as it initially looked on the ice.
With two huge hits of this nature, both beg the question: Where they legal hits? Do you think Green’s hit on Frolik was clean? If not, how long do you think his potential suspension will be? How long do you think it should be?
On the other hand, what do you think of the young Russian’s hit on Green? Do you think it was a clean hit or do you think there was too much knee-to-knee contact?
My quick initial take: it was a rough night for Mike Green. His elbow to Frolik’s face looked brutal—and the Kulikov hit that knocked him out of the game looked clean. We’ll see if the NHL sees it the same way.
