Canadiens defeat Bruins 4-1; analysis of Chara’s dirty hit on Pacioretty
Fred Poulin | Mar 09, 2011 | Comments 14
Tuesday evening, the Montreal Canadiens played one of their best all-around game of the season in a 4-1 win against their division rivals, the Boston Bruins; however, this beautiful win was clouded by Zdeno Chara’s dirty hit on youngster Max Pacioretty at the end of the second period.
The night had begun fairly well for the Habs, after rookie Ryan White went after defenseman Johnny Boychuk who tried to hit PK Subban with his knee in the middle of the ice. The bout was filled with punches and both players were out of gas at the end of the fight. White received a two-minute instigator penalty on the pay, which Montreal promptly killed to gain the early momentum.
The Habs, who seemed jumpstarted by the fight, took an early two-goal lead in the first period, thanks to two goals by rookie Lars Eller. Eller opened the score 8:21 into the game when he buried a rebound past Tuuka Rask on the stick side. Then, nine minutes later, Eller took advantage of a turnover created by Travis Moen at the Bruins’ blue line to elude Rask on a quick backhand-forehand move to beat him again on the stick side.
Eller’s emergence is no stranger to the Canadiens’ five-game winning streak. The rookie, who was acquired in exchange for Jaroslav Halak prior to the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has regained his confidence since he was moved back to center, his natural position, by head coach Jacques Martin. The Danish rookie has now recorded six points (4 g and 2 a) in his past seven games. He has also a +2 plus/minus rating, two hits and eight shots on goal (50% scoring rate!!) over that span playing on a line with Travis Moen and Andrei Kostitsyn. After a dismal start, Eller now has seven goals and eight assists in 62 games with the Habs.
Then, in the second period, captain Brian Gionta put the Canadiens ahead 3-0 on the power play, scoring his team-leading 24h goal of the season, assisted by Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec. Rask was not very good on this shot, which slowly trickled in the net after a partial save. Eight minutes later, the power play stroke again when James Wisniewski beat the Finnish goaltender on a hard slap shot from the left point. The Habs finished the evening 2 for 5, while the Bruins were blanked on four PP opportunities.
Milan Lucic scored the lone Boston goal 13 minutes in the third period when he beat Carey Price high glove side. Price stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced for his 32nd win of the season, a league high. He even stopped rookie Brad Marchand on a penalty shot early in the third period with a quick left kick save.
But what clouded what would have been a very successful and positive evening for the Canadiens and their fans is a very dirty hit by giant Zdeno Chara on forward Max Pacioretty at the end of the second period. Pacioretty laid on the ice and remained motionless for several minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher after the hit by Chara, which sent him flying into the glass partition (stanchion) at the end of the Bruins’ bench.
“I knew we were somewhere close to our bench but obviously that wasn’t my intention to push him into the post,” commented Chara after the contest, who was given an interference major and a ten-minute game misconduct, and was thrown out of the game, with 15.8 seconds left in the period. “It’s very unfortunate. In that situation everything’s happening fast and even planning to do that, that’s not my style to hurt somebody. I always play hard. I play physical but I never try to hurt anybody so I’m hoping he’s O.K.”
It was reported Pacioretty was conscious and moved his extremities before he was transported to the hospital where he spent the night for observation and as a precautionary measure.
His status was updated this morning by RDS’ Renaud Lavoie:
Max Pacioretty is suffering from a severe concussion and a neck injury.
The possibility that the forward has suffered a fracture is not excluded.
The Montreal team will have a press briefing today to make an assessment on the health status of No. 67.
The extenuating circumstances surrounding Chara’s dirty hit are helping his case:
1. The score was 4-0 Montreal when the incident happened.
2. Chara tried to fight Pacioretty the last time the two teams met in Boston on February 9th, a game filled with 182 penalty minutes.
3. Pacioretty had pushed Chara in the back after scoring the game-winner in overtime on January 8th at Bell Centre.
Video of the hit:
You can clearly see Chara extending his arms at the last second just before he rams Pacioretty into the stanchion, therefore invalidating the comment he made after the game. While I don’t believe Chara wanted to knock Pacioretty unconscious, he clearly wanted to hurt him by hitting hard into the bench and blocking him the way. He raised his arms to make sure Pacioretty was not going past him and was hit by the stanchion even if the latter didn’t have the puck anymore. While Chara is not known as a dirty player, he was looking to exact his vengeance on Max Pax ever since the January 8th incident.
Head coach Jacques Martin commented the incident after the game: “It’s serious when you see an injury like that. The league has to deal with those issues. It’s not the first time. It seems to be getting worse and worse. The league has to take some responsibility. It was a dangerous hit.”
However, we all know that the NHL never takes responsibility for this kind of dangerous hit and unless you’re a well-known goon (Trevos Gillies), you rarely receive a lengthy suspension. The fact that Chara is only scheduled for a phone hearing, which means a suspension of five games or less, is reflecting the league’s position on that particular matter. The NHL doesn’t to care if his players are injured and out for an extended period of time. Just think about Marc Savard, viciously hit by Matt Cooke last season, who is still suffering from post-concussion symptoms. Savard tried to come back this season, but he was shutdown for the remainder of the campaign because of continuous symptoms…
Colin Campbell, whose son Gregory plays for the Bruins, will not be the one who’s going to handle the suspension, if any. it will rather be his assistant Mike Murphy who’s going to be responsible for Chara’s fate.
While I believe the NHL will suspend him, I don’t expect it to be longer than two or three games, as the NHL made a habit this season. NHL Suspensions in 2010-11
Do you think Chara’s action was premeditated?
Do you think it deserves a suspension? If so, how many games?
Please add your comments as I want to know your opinion on this particular matter.
You can also follow me on Twitter for updates on the Habs and the NHL in general.
Filed Under: Boston Bruins • Featured • Montreal Canadiens • NHL • NHL Teams
Good article again M. Poulin.
First, i think Campbell should resign, because his son plays in the NHL and that is an obvious conflict of interest.
Second, i think Chara deserves a 20 match suspension, because he added to the dirty shot by extending his arms to push Pacio. Every move like that which shows an intent to do more than a normal hit (like using the elbow or pushing in the back) should be automatically severely punished. Something like an automatic 20 match suspension. No more subjective decision. Bang, 20 match, that’s it, that’s all. And on second time, a year suspension. Players will think about it before acting like savages. Il like physical play, a good a clean hit, thats’ part of the game. But let’s banish the crazy shots. Pacio could have been killed. no kidding.
1. Yes
2. Yes….
In my view at least 3 games because of the history between the two players. I don’t think it will be more because of the time in the season and cuz Chara doesn’t have a bad reputation. Although I could make a case for 5-6 games.
If I had to guess based on Chara being an elite player…He knew exactly where he was on the ice and should take full responsibility. There is no denying the contact came late.
If I had to guess on the NHL’s ruling….2 game suspension.
1. Yes, it was premediatated. Not that I think he intended to nearly take his head off, but some message sending was certainly in order in Z’s mind.
2. Yes, at least two games at a minimum that McKenzie suggested. As I wrote, I could see 7-8. Send a message that dangerous risk taking along the boards will not be tolerated.
3. I wrote quite a bit of my feelings in my post this morning, but the lack of respect for his “fellow man” is the real issue. Intent or not, Chara was rolling the dice that he could lay him out and not get him seriously injured and get away with a penalty. Pass up the dangerous hit and get back in position to support the play moving the puck back up ice since Boychuck had already retreived the puck.
He could have delayed some of Max’s progress by just skating near him, setting a “faux pick”, and not running him in to the partition/boards.
If Gillies of the Islanders gets 10 games for a interference penalty because his arms came up (on a shoulder to shoulder hit) and made contact with the other players head (a player who had just delivered a dirty hit BTW) then Chara deserves the same for making contact with Pacioretty’s head and causing a much serious injury to a player he has a past history with. Considering that the puck was long gone it was an illegal play which resulted in a serious injury. However anyone who believes that Campbell and his office doesn’t have a pro bias for whichever team Campbell’s son plays for (Bruins) is kidding themselves. Last week another one of Campbell’s sons teammates (Lucic) crosschecked a player across the head and was given no suspension. Was that not a blatant head shot Colie and co? A crosscheck to the head is not an intent to injure Colie and co? Bettman is a joke for allowing this clown Campbell, who has a son playing in the league, to hand out suspensions.
Thanks guys for your comments and input.
Max Pacioretty has a severe concussion, as well as a fracture of the fourth cervical vertebra, but it’s not displaced. He is out indefinitely now. Still now updates on the Chara hearing with the NHL.
1. Premeditated hit – yes. Premeditated dirty hit – no.
2. Yes, based on the outcome, unintentional or not, there should be a suspension. 2 games (not sure I have a clear feeling on what it should be).
On what the NHL will do, who knows, could be nothing…
Verdict, the NHL has handed down no suspension and no fine to Chara for his hit on Max Pacioretty yesterday…
It speaks volume about the NHL has turned into a bush league…
What a shock the Bruins involved in 2 plays in less than a week that easily could have been suspensions and none were handed out. I wonder why? If that had been Gillies instead of Chara with that same exact hit he would have been gone for the year, no question. CAMPBELL MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!
“It’s just something with Boston,” Thornton told the Globe and Mail. “It just seems like they have a horseshoe. We’ve seen the [Milan] Lucic cross-check to the head [of Maxim Lapierre] earlier, and there’s no disciplinary thing.” Quote from Joe Thornton time to put “Colie” on the hot seat. I think the cross check he was talking about was the one last week on Moore of Tampa.
I have written this opinion several times…
If the infraction is worthy of a game misconduct and a player was injured it has to be worthy of a suspension.
Losing Chara for the rest of that game only is not enough punishment.
The hit was way late and there is no way to measure intent.
Another issue is there are many times a players is given a game misconduct and the action shouldn’t have been a penalty at all….
Until the NHL adopts a similar policy such as the NFL policy regarding hits to the head, the league will never be recognized as a top-4 sport in the USA. It will be viewed as a league filled with goons and buffoons, and governed by a midget lawyer who doesn’t know how to properly run his league!
ABSOLUTELY..We don’t give life to watch it be taken away over a sport…maybe they’ve all suffered too many brain damaging blows to the head…comeon time to get your manhoods in check..couldn’t see much skill playing there in that play/dirty shot.
permanent suspension…let’s see a real change in how hockey is played..get back to skill-playing..it clearly looks like chara used his glove to push/turn Maxs’ head into the partition..it has been shown on an interview ..spoken by charas’ team-mate after the hit/game some comments ..that really left me thinking CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION..OF ALL INTERVIEWS ALSO might be a good idea.pay attention to the second clip showing charas’ hit. it may leave you questioning/seeking the truth too.
I don’t think that the criminal investigation will go far… Just look at the Patrice Cormier-Michael Tam incident, the charges were dropped against Cormier and he’s now playing in the NHL!