Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik (OHR’-pihk) has been suspended three games for his late hit to the head of Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta (OH’-lee MAH’-tah) in Game 2 of the second-round series Saturday.
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Orpik is out until at least Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals or the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals if the Capitals should take the next three contests in the ultra-competitive best-of-seven series with the Penguins, which is even at 1-1 heading into Monday night’s Game 3 in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh couldn’t stop T.J. Oshie from recording a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime loss Thursday, but bounced back by stifling almost all of the Capitals’ roster in a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Saturday.
Chorney, who played for Pittsburgh in the playoffs a year ago and was originally brought in to bolster the Capitals’ blue-line depth, has been seeing quite a bit of ice time lately, as Washington dealt with an Orpik injury in the first round against Philadelphia, and was then trusted over Dmitry Orlov on Saturday.
Orpik received a two-minute penalty for interference after his shoulder-to-chin hit on Maatta. “I told them it was a late hit and I knew that’s why I was having a hearing”.
Beyond the Maatta hit, Orpik was up to old tricks Saturday night against his former team.
“They’ve got a good deep defensive corps”, he said. “Now, he’s deflecting pucks out of play all over the place”, Reirden said back in October.
Dmitry Orlov, who was a healthy scratch during Game 2, is expected to draw back into the lineup to take Orpik’s place.
“Brooks is a key part of the penalty kill”, Winnik said, before noting Capitals did without Orpik for 41 games in the regular-season and their penalty kill still finished second in the league.
That is only because the league so badly missed the mark on the Bellemare suspension, and not because they were too harsh on Orpik because of who the Capitals are playing.
When asked to clarify, Trotz offered only “take it for whatever you want”. “So we’ll just move forward”.
Washington coach Barry Trotz defended Orpik in the aftermath, pointing to Orpik’s reputation as a tough but smart defender, adding the Penguins know Orpik isn’t a dirty player. “If you know, the people here in Pittsburgh trying to paint him that way, c’mon, that’s a joke”.
“I don’t have a lot of sense of [Maatta’s] availability, but I’m probably not optimistic, though”, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said Sunday according to ESPN. Absolutely not. So he’s going to suffer the consequences and so will we. “We’ve done that all year, so I expect the guys to step up and fill that gap”.
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“I’m disappointed, but not surprised (by the suspension length) based on who’re playing and all that”, Trotz said.
