Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele became the talk of the National Hockey League with his 175-foot charge that sent Montreal Canadien Jake Evans off the ice on a stretcher on Wednesday night. Evans had been in the process of tucking home the empty-net insurance goal in the Habs’ 5-3 win when Scheifele, who it should be noted had a grand total of 12 penalty minutes in 56 games this year, came from the other end of the rink and blasted him.
Scheifele was suspended for four games by the NHL on Thursday night.
The NHL department of player safety said Schefiele “finishes his check violently and with unwarranted force into Evans, making significant head contact in the process and causing an injury.”
Asked about the hit, Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy had the same reaction that everyone who watched it did.
“Wow,” said Cassidy on Thursday morning. “That was a play you don’t see very often in hockey where a guy comes out the other side, especially with the empty net, I can guarantee Evans did not expect to get hit in that circumstance. In five-on-five play, when you come around the net on a wraparound, the puck carrier is usually anticipating some level of confrontation. I don’t think he expected it at all. I haven’t gone through it (frame-by-frame) so I don’t know if he went through the head first or shoulder. That’s the part I’m sure they’ll look at. I know he traveled distance and that’s going to be brought up. I don’t think there was any maliciousness intended in the hit. It just sort of developed. It was there and he took it. But, boy, it was a tough one to take. I hope first and foremost (that) their player is doing well. I hope he is. That’s the first thing you think of. It’ll be an interesting one, because you don’t see that particular play a lot. (We’ll see) how the NHL is going to handle that.”
Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme said on Thursday that Evans did suffer a concussion on the hit.
Brandon Carlo was concussed on an illegal hit from Washington’s Tom Wilson earlier this season and had his opinion on the Scheifele hit as well.
“I walked into the meal room last night and everyone was huddled around the TV and didn’t know what was going on. Then you see a hit like that. It’s just circumstantial in the game, and it’s not necessary,” said Carlo. “It is hard to see. You never want to see guys get hurt, especially in situations where it could have been avoided. That is tough. Overall, I think it’s on the individual player to make the right decision there. You just have a heartfelt (wish) going out to the player injured. You just hope he’s OK. I’ve been in that position. It’s not fun. So, yeah, I really think that stuff in the game isn’t necessary. There are obviously times when emotions are high and you might get a little bit of red brain and not know what’s going on but I think we all need to have that control.”
Smith back in for Game 3
After missing Game 2 with a lower body injury, Craig Smith returned to the B’s lineup for Game 3 at Nassau Coliseum. Smith had suffered a lower body injury in the second period of Game 1.
With Smith’s return, Karson Kuhlman came out of the lineup and Jake DeBrusk dropped back down to the Charlie Coyle line. Smith took his regular spot on David Krejci‘s right wing.
Neutral zone is key against Isles
Something the Islanders do as well or better than anyone else in the league is forecheck and create turnovers in their opponent’s zone. Carlo said the key is to do a better job before they get to the B’s zone.
“I think they really just buy into their systems. Obviously, they’ve done a good job of getting pucks behind us. It’s tedious when you have to continually go back on pucks, but even from there, the half-wall battles when we do get the puck up to the forwards, it’s not an easy task to get out of the zone,” said Carlo. “I think we (need to) continue to focus on the neutral zone, win through that area. We obviously know the task at hand in the D-zone going back on pucks, but as long as we take care and manage the neutral zone, that enables us to get in the offensive zone and that’s where we want to play as well. We have a very good forechecking team as well, so it’s not easy for them just as we know it’s not easy for us. But overall I think we can control things with the way we get through the neutral zone.”
Rask discussion ‘overplayed’
Cassidy reiterated that Tuukka Rask is healthy enough to play, that he “wants in” and discussion over his health has been “overplayed” a bit.
Asked hypothetically about weighing the effectiveness of an established player who is battling a nagging injury versus a possible healthy replacement, Cassidy intimated that the further we get away from Jeremy Swayman‘s last start — it was nearly a month ago on May 11 — the less likely we’d see a change in net.
“If you’re talking about Swayman versus Rask, how much time off has Swayman had? It’s an important position,” said Cassidy. “You don’t just roll a guy in there, say like a (Jarred) Tinordi, who hadn’t played in a while. You say go play 15 to 18 solid minutes, keep it simple. It’s a little easier for a player to jump in that role than a goaltender. You have to weigh in how long he’s been off or hasn’t had live action.” …
The B’s were supposed to take off for Long Island from Hanscom Field at 2 p.m. on Wednesday but did not leave until close to 9 p.m. However, Cassidy said it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Players were allowed to go home for a few hours before returning for the flight. It did not affect the team’s preparation.
“Nothing was really affected other than a little inconvenience,” said Cassidy. …
Kevan Miller, who began skating on Wednesday, did not travel with the team and is not expected to play in either Games 3 or 4.
