Brooks Orpik only received a two-minute minor for interference after his brutal high hit on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Olli Maatta in Saturday’s Game 2 of the Penguins and Washington Capitals’ second-round Stanley Cup playoff series, but he received a much harsher penalty from the league the following day.
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Pittsburgh limited the Capitals to 10 shots over the first two periods despite losing Maatta less than five minutes into the game.
Not only was the goal waived off, but Kuznetsov was sent to the penalty box for goalie interference.
The Penguins are familiar with Orpik’s bruising style.
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.
Maybe, but twice in two games the Capitals have delivered blows that crossed the threshold between aggressive and illegal, though defenseman Matt Niskanen thinks the series still has a long way to go to match the ugly tenor of Washington’s victory over Philadelphia in the conference quarterfinals. “Now, he’s deflecting pucks out of play all over the place”, Reirden said back in October.
When asked to elaborate on what he meant, he simply said, “Take it for whatever you want”.
Orpik said he spoke to Maatta, his former teammate in Pittsburgh, after Game 2.
Maatta’s injury has been named an upper-body injury.
The Penguins will face Washington in Game 3 on Monday at 8 p.m. Fans saw a lot of action through the first two games, and should only expect to continue seeing even more as the series goes on.
In Game 1 between these attacking giants, the Washington Capitals managed to squeeze through with the win, in overtime. I intended for it to be a hard hit, but definitely not at his head. “Just gotta live with it”.
Beyond the length of the suspension, Trotz didn’t like the way he’s seen Orpik portrayed in the wake of the incident.
“I don’t think it’s fair for guys that have the talk shows after the games to be calling Orpik a predator”, Wilson told the media.
“You definitely have to worry about our guy first – he obviously didn’t look good”, Penguins winger Chris Kunitz said Monday morning. Swap him out for Dmitry Orlov, and isn’t this a better team? I thought that power-play goal in the third really got them started. Penguins LW Chris Kunitz played despite bleeding after getting smacked in the left ear by a puck while sitting on the bench during Game 1….
Trotz defended Orpik’s character and style of play while acknowledging that whatever the National Hockey League decides, the Capitals will deal with it.
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He later conceded the second game of a series does get a team’s attention ‘”a heck of a lot more”, especially after losing Game 1 at home.
