Not to be outdone by Ian Cole, who earned a three-game suspension Sunday for a check that Brendan Shanahan called the "quintessential" open-ice head hit, Chicago Blackhawks' winger Dan Carcillo has apparently decided to help Shanahan clarify the rules on shoving from behind.
Here's Carcillo absolutely launching Edmonton Oilers' defenseman Tom Gilbert into the end boards after a dump-in:
Okay, I am fairly certain that's against the rules.
Gilbert left the game and did not return, but he wasn't the only one hurt by this hit. Carcillo left as well, both because he injured himself making the check and because he was tossed (a fitting punishment), earning a 5-minute major and a game misconduct. Then the Oilers scored twice on the powerplay to take the lead. They wound up winning the game, 4-3.
In other words, despite what you see above, it's not a slam dunk that Gilbert got the worst of the collision.
Carcillo's probably still not done suffering for it, either. I would be shocked if he doesn't get the book thrown at him here.
As I've said of late, I honestly have no idea what Shanahan's going to do anymore, but I'm going to predict a big ban for this incident. Not only was there an apparent injury on the play, but Carcillo's a repeat offender, having been suspended five times in his NHL career.
Worse, he's a recent repeat offender on Shanahan's watch. You'll recall that, back in October, he saw a two-game ban for effectively doing the same thing to Joni Pitkanen.
If the recent Raffi Torres suspension is any indication, Shanahan gets annoyed when his discipline fails to deter, and this is one such case.
In this instance, Carcillo hasn't just continued to shove from behind -- he's gotten better at it. Heck, he's perfected the act. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more "quintessential" shove into the end boards than this one. Granted, it's not right in the numbers,
What say you, puckheads? Is this is a banner Shanaban?