Brooks Orpik takes cheap shot at Olli Maata
There are disgusting hits in the NHL and then there's what Washington Capitals goon Brooks Orpik did to Olli Maata in Game 2 of the Capitals series against the Penguins.
Orpik threw an elbow to the head of Maata in what couldn't have been any less of a play on the puck. TO ad insult to obvious injury, the Penguins watched as Orpik was assessed nothing more than a minor penalty for this takeout shot.
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Just take a look — it's brutal:
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It was a cheap shot, and you didn't need all four views to check that out.
While the hit drew only a minor penalty on the ice, it's very likely that the NHL is going to come down hard on Orpik for this one. The league is trying to convince us that it cares about player safety and doesn't want to turn into what the NFL has become with CTE.
Beyond that, this is just a dirty hit that needs to be made an example of, as there's no place for this on the ice. If this hit had been laid out against Ovechkin or Crosby, it wouldn't have likely been treated the same way it was. That can't happen and the NHL needs to rectify this sooner rather than later.
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