Board, Slash, It’s a Power Play Goal

That’s the mini-summary of the Rangers at Islanders game tonight.

While a lot of hockey was played before it, the moment that will stand out for the next couple of weeks is a two-hander Chris Simon swung at Ryan Hollweg‘s face.

Hollweg laid Simon into the boards hard.  Whether or not that hit was legal will probably be something that’s debated for a long time to come.  What came after that, Simon getting up and catching Hollweg in the face with his stick, won’t be.

Simon rightfully picked up a match penalty.  Match penalties result in a five minute major on the ice, and are automatically reviewed by the league.  Simon will be suspended.  I’ll take a guess at 10 games.

The Rangers play the Islanders again on March 25th.  The Islanders play seven games before that one, and whether or not Simon will be in the lineup is questionable.

I can’t tell you what Simon was thinking.  I’m sure many media pundits will make the attempt.  You’ll read and hear anything from he’s nothing but a goon (Simon has five fighting majors this season) to blaming the instigator rule.

As of this post, I haven’t heard any quotes from Simon to the media.  Rangers coach Tom Renney wisely declined comment.

This is the sort of ugly incident that can bring hockey down in the media.  Mainstream media and blogs will debate rules and suspension lengths for incidents like these, but lapse of judgement is just that, a lapse, and rules rarely matter.

More to come…