As the Tampa Bay Lightning came back for a shocking (see what I did there) 5-4 win in OT against the New York Islanders Tuesday night, Islanders defenceman Thomas Hickey was involved in two controversial hits.
The first came in the second period when he drilled Jonathan Drouin with an open ice check that forced the Lightning forward to leave the game for a while. Drouin returned in the third period and assisted on the late tying goal that forced overtime. For his part, Drouin said the hit was clean and, according to the rulebook, it doesn’t appear as though Hickey broke any rules.
Hickey was on the receiving end of the second hit, which came on the last play of the game. Boyle hammered Hickey along the boards and the Islanders defenceman was unable to get back up and into the play. As a result, the Lightning entered the offensive zone on an odd-man rush and Boyle potted the OT winner from the side of the net.
So if Hickey’s hit on Drouin won’t lead to a suspension, what about Boyle’s hit on Hickey? Islanders coach Jack Capuano certainly thinks it’s a check that should lead to further discipline.
“It’s a direct shot to the head. (He’s) probably going to get suspended a game,” Capuano said. “The whole game, it shouldn’t come down to that.
“Those are the type of hits that we’re trying to eliminate from our game. It’s just too bad that it had to end that way.”
