Kris Letang is scheduled to have hearing today with the NHL’s department of player safety for his elbow to the head area of Capitals winger Marcus Johansson last night. He was assessed a minor interference penalty for the hit on Johansson, which occurred at 15:41 of the first period of Pittsburgh’s 3-2 win on Monday night.
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Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored a minute apart in the first period, Matt Murray stopped 47 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins took control of their Eastern Conference semifinal with a 3-2 win in Game 3 on Monday. Capital defenseman Brooks Orpik was suspended for three games for taking out Olli Maata in the early stages of Game 2. “If you look at it, I stride in front of him, the result of it is the result of it, but I just want to say, there was no malicious intention”. “The disparity in shots was because (the Capitals) had the puck all night”.
Letang’s place in the lineup presumably will be filled by Justin Schultz, a healthy scratch the past seven games after logging five minutes and 52 seconds of ice time in the Penguins’ quarterfinal opener against the New York Rangers. But we also know we have a lot of guys behind him that can play big minutes.
He’ll sit out Game 4 on Wednesday evening at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center.
“You come here for a split, you’re hoping for a split, they got one and now it’s our turn”.
“I don’t think you can replace a player like that”, Penguins defenseman Ian Cole said.
The fair and just thing to do would be to not compare this hit to any others, to take it on its own merits.
The Penguins will miss Letang’s presence in Game 4 more than the Capitals have missed Orpik.
Pittsburgh went 2-8-1 without Letang this season, and his importance to the momentum in this series was not lost on the Capitals.
Trotz did not understand why Orpik got three games for his hit on Maatta while the Flyers’ Pierre-Edouard Bellemare received just a one-game banishment for driving Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov into the boards headfirst from behind during the first round.
Pittsburgh proved resolute in defence, while rookie goaltender Matt Murray was in superb form, as the Penguins parried assault after assault on their goal from the Alex Ovechkin-led Capitals. Derrick Pouliot made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut in Game 3, when he filled in for Maatta.
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I also thought that referees Wes McCauley and Francis Charron did another good job in managing the physicality and highly charged emotion that both teams presented in Game 3. “We’re still not going to change too much”.
