Multiple sources are reporting that Ottawa Senators forward Chris Neil's hit on New York Rangers playoff hero Brian Boyle — which earned comparisons from Coach John Tortorella to the one that got Raffi Torres banned for 25 games — will not receive any supplemental discipline from the NHL.
The hit, again, from Game 5:
Said Tortorella after the 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Saturday night:
"Well, they have a blueprint. It was probably the exact same hit as Torres. Different part of the ice. Launches himself, headshot. The pucks at the goal line when he's hit. So the blueprint's there. I'm sure he's a repeat offender, too. Not much research to be done there."
Torts offered a no comment about the hit on Sunday, and said he wasn't sure if Boyle would make the trip to Ottawa.
Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News thinks Neil deserved something for the hit:
The distinction in Neil's hit, it appears, is over the principal point of contact. Though he clearly barrels into Boyle's head and the head is the initial point of contact, the play is read as a full body check — making the body the principal point of contact — while the head is just one of several parts of the body engaged.
Of course, I don't agree, and I also have a problem with Neil lining up Boyle from across the ice, displaying intent to do something other than shake the Rangers' hand.
It's an inherently violent game. Not every hit's a suspension. This one, even with the concussion Tortorella said Boyle suffered, shouldn't have been one, and isn't.
Meanwhile, Carl Hagelin will be back from his suspension for Game 6 ... and the man he concussed, Daniel Alfredsson, might be back too.