One has to wonder exactly what its going to take for the NHL to start protecting the Bruins.
Boston is currently playing without a pair of forwards, one of whom was taken out by a blind-side blow to the head (Nathan Horton) and the other by a knee-on-knee hit (Rich Peverley). Both injury-inducing plays went without penalty during the game and were free of supplemental discipline after the fact.
There were legit arguments that both situations could have gone either way in terms of discipline from Senior VP of Player Safety and Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan. It was a fairly reasonable take that Tom Sestito and Hal Gill werent stepping over the line with hits that hurt Bs players.
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This hockey writer would disagree vehemently on both counts, particularly on a Sestito head hit that defined predatory from a player with a history of targeting other players heads and against a player in Horton with a concussion history.
The hit caused a head injury thats sidelined Horton for a month -- with no return date in sight -- and speaks volumes about the target area of Sestitos original blow.
That brings us to Saturday nights third period in Ottawa, and Kyle Turris leaving his skates to deliver a raised elbow to the head of Bruins defenseman Joe Corvo. The blueliner caught the brunt of the hit and then smacked his head off the dasher for good measure before dropping the ice.
Luckily for everybody involved Corvo was momentarily shaken but able to stay in a game that was already missing Johnny Boychuk after he was rocked by a clean, honest Chris Neil body check.
The refs whistled Turris for a two-minute boarding call on the ice and that was a good start.
Replays showed so much more.
The young Ottawa forward launched himself off the ice toward Corvo, used the defensemans head as the principal point of contact and missed out on scrambling the defensemans eggs largely due to his own slight build and lack of finishing torque.
NESNs Jack Edwards went so far as to call the Turris hit a chicken move, and even those siding with the Ottawa perspective were openly admitting it appeared Turris was in the wrong hunting for heads.
Despite all of the above, Shanahan came out with a ruling on Sunday that exonerated Turris of any wrongdoing. The NHL exec, who has enjoyed an outstanding first season as the NHLs Sheriff, basically gave the young Senators center the green light to hit others exactly the way he clobbered Corvo. Thats going to raise the eyebrows of many around the Bruins, who saw Andrew Ference get suspended for a boarding play that was much less nefarious.
After reviewing the video extensively as we heard Turris' explanation of how the play developed, we concluded that the head was not targeted intentionally or even recklessly and that the circumstances surrounding the hit contributed significantly to the amount of head contact that resulted, wrote Shanahan in the press release. We therefore have decided that there will be no supplemental discipline added to the penalty assessed on the play.
It must have been an incredible explanation on Turris part to deflect away any suspicions of intentional or reckless behavior.
But Shanahans Turris decision surely also had something to do with Corvos ability to walk away from the flying elbow.
Perhaps Shanahan is even shepherding the sequence of events toward an old time hockey resolution with the Senators traveling to Boston on Tuesday night.
Since Corvo escaped the hit injury-free, the Bs defenseman is now free to confront Turris on his own terms and seek his own justice according to the NHLs tacit code of honor.
Perhaps thats what Shanahan had in mind with a punishment that would truly fit in the crime in most peoples hockey minds.
But theres a more troubling trend at work here. Since the December GM meetings where the Bruins were used as poster boys for a video of all thats wrong in the NHLwith the league showing clips of Milan Lucic hitting Ryan Miller, Andrew Ference smacking into Jeff Halpern during the first round of last years playoffs and the Zdeno CharaMax Pacioretty incidentthe Bs have been gored by the NHL powers that be.
Lucic, Ference and Brad Marchand have been suspended for a total of nine games and there hasnt been a single suspension handed out to a player crossing the line with a Bruins player since then.
Its probably coincidence and happenstance that all of this is happening at the same time, but it would be no surprise if the Bruins players dont exactly feel protected by the league as the other 29 teams do.
Its a fools errand to demand justice from the sheriff when youre perceived as the biggest criminal in all of the land -- or the biggest, baddest hockey team in all of the NHL.
But it appears, to borrow a phrase from Lindy Ruff, that its open season on the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and has been for the better part of the last three months. Its one thing to hold the Bruins to a higher degree of scrutiny as the NHL seems to be doing.
The nine games worth of suspensions, the second-most penalties called in the NHL this season against the Bruins and at least one penalty against the Bs in every one of their games this season are all strong evidence the NHL is holding the Bs accountable.
But to train a microscope on the Bs physical game while allowing other attacking teams to take injurious liberties with Boston is essentially holding both arms behind a hockey teams back. It may be the league intentionally slapping down the Bruins to prove a point of fairness and equality, and it may just be a frustrating coincidence for a team that plays to the edge.
But either way its going to be another member of the Bruins seriously hurt if Shanahan and Co. dont decide those wearing Black and Gold deserve just as much safety and protection as everybody else no matter how big and strong they might be.