Chris Neil has been a major thorn in the side of the New York Rangers throughout the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. If you've been watching his expert agitation -- most notably his hit on Brian Boyle -- you could understand why, say, if you were a Ranger and you had the opportunity to drill him while his head was down, you might be tempted to take it.
Michael Del Zotto sure did, drilling the Ottawa Senators forward behind the goal with five minutes remaining in the Rangers 3-2 Game 6 victory:
(This clip is some expert misdirection. There you are, watching Anisimov, thinking he might come around and clip Neil from the backside and them -- bam! -- Del Zotto comes flying into the fray and pops Neil from the other side.)
Neil stayed in the game, and there was no penalty on the play, but Neil definitely hadn't forgotten about it after the game. From Ranger Rants:
Remember that Del Zotto hit Neil behind the Rangers' bench, leaving Neil supposedly dazed and confused, before he hopped right back into the game.
"I'm sure I'll catch him with his head down one of these times," Neil said.
Yikes. In a first round rife with violence, the last thing we need are guys threatening revenge hits. Especially a guy that concussed someone 2 games ago.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist may see a fine for his suggestion that there was some sort of pro-Ottawa conspiracy behind Neil's absurd, kick-the-puck-in-because-my stick-is-tied-up-interfering-with-the-goaltender goal.
But you could make a case that Neil should see a fine as well for this threat. Should he? Will he?