The most exciting series of the second round so far heads to Pittsburgh on Monday, as the Penguins host the Washington Capitals in Game 3.
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The suspension means Orpik might miss the rest of the teams’ second-round series, depending on how Games 3, 4 and 5 turn out.
An NHL hockey rink is 200 by 85, and four officials cover the action.
“It was a late hit”.
Sullivan said after Game 2 that the hit was late, targeted Maatta’s head and was exactly the kind of hit “everyone in hockey is trying to remove from the game”. “Who knows? Maybe he got hit a couple of times and it has a lasting effect”.
Maatta exited for the locker room and did not return.
On the day Brooks Orpik publicly accepted responsibility for his three-game suspension, Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz pulled no punches when it came to his feelings on the matter.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised based on who we’re playing and all that”, Trotz said. “I thought it was a target to his head”. For the Pens, it’s of unknown length as Maatta recovers from the effects of Orpik’s hit. Trotz relayed that Orpik thought the puck was coming back to Orpik and that he didn’t intend to hit Maatta like that. “Just like this year when he had a slower start and then… he finished third in the league in scoring”. “Looking at it, as Brooks said, it was a little bit late”.
“He’s a pretty good friend so it made the situation a little tougher, ” said Orpik. Taking some pressure off guys like Crosby, Kessel, and Malkin to score really helps those guys and the team. “It didn’t look good”. “So we’ll just move forward”. The suspension is fair, but calling him a dirty player, let alone a predator, is not fair at all.
“But the one thing about [Thornton] is that anybody who knows him personally knows he’s a pretty honest player and a pretty honest person and if he said he really regretted it and felt bad, he really did. He’s trying to play through people, in terms of [playing] hard”.
The veteran defenseman played for the Penguins for more than a decade before signing with the Capitals after the 2013-14 season. Orpik missed three games of the first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers after he was concussed on a legal hit from Ryan White on April 18.
The Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins series is a highly competitive, entertaining playoff matchup where every check, play and decision seems critical.
Beyond the Maatta hit, Orpik was up to old tricks Saturday night against his former team. It helped them go to the Stanley Cup final in 2008 and win it all in 2009. Orpik said he talked to Maatta after Game 2 but did not disclose details of their conversation.
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“It’s part of the game”, Letang said of Orpik’s post-whistle antics.
