After Tuesday's Bruins-Blue Jackets game, Columbus forward R.J. Umberger was a little peeved after catching a Brad Marchand elbow to the back of the head. To make matters worse, no penalty was called on the play, leaving Umberger voice his opinion after the game saying, "I haven't seen it, but I've heard he might have left his feet with an elbow. That's what it felt like ... You got to think that's one of the hits we are trying to eliminate whether it's inadvertent or not."
Like we saw yesterday after Steve Ott's comments about Dany Heatley's elbow to his head that led to a two-gamer, Umberger's plea was heard by the NHL and Mike Murphy (not Colin Campbell, remember) and Marchand was suspended today for two games.
Here's the hit from Tuesday:
From the NHL:
TORONTO (March 17, 2011) — Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been suspended for two games and will forfeit $6,330.64 in salary for delivering an elbow to the head area of Columbus Blue Jackets player R.J. Umberger in NHL game #1044 Tuesday night, the National Hockey League announced today.
Marchand's fine is based on his average annual salary and is calculated under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
The incident occurred at 11:40 of the second period when Marchand approached Umberger from behind and struck him in the neck and side of the head with his elbow. No penalty was assessed on the play.
Marchand will miss the Bruins' next two games -- tonight at Nashville and March 19 at Toronto. He will be eligible to return March 22 against New Jersey.
No injury to Umberger. The elbow wasn't heinous, so two games is pretty consistent with the NHL's supplemental discipline process; and we all know how dysfunctional that process is no matter how much "cracking down" was discussed at the GMs meetings earlier this week.