There are times to joke around, and there are times not to joke around.
One would believe the latter category would include occasions where you’ve levelled an opposing player with a hit from behind… in which you left your skates to deliver… and were given a game misconduct.
What say you, Flyers’ Zac Rinaldo?
Dave Isaac on Twitter
Tim Panaccio on Twitter
Hoo, boy.
Rinaldo did say he believes, like the rest of us, the NHL will hand him a suspension in the near future. However, he doesn’t believe the boarding/charge/hit from behind he threw on Kris Letang was dirty and that any supplemental discipline would have more to do with Letang’s star power and the fact he was injured than any wrongdoing on Rinaldo’s part.
More from Dave Isaac at the Courier-Post:
“More than likely I’m gonna get suspended, yeah,” said Rinaldo, a repeat offender with two prior suspensions on his record. He was suspended four games last April and two games in 2012.
“Just the way the league is going right now. Especially with it being Letang, a star player, it being me with some history and him getting hurt doesn’t help me in my situation, either. I’m just gonna take it with a grain of salt.”
…
“I think I was going pretty fast,” Rinaldo said. “Me hitting him and the impact of me leaving him threw me up a little bit. If you slow it down, any hit…every single hit you slow it down and dissect every little detail, you’re gonna see something that you can criticize.”
Letang left Tuesday’s game and did not return.
Later on, Rinaldo tweeted that he wasn’t making light of the situation:
In case you missed it, all hell broke loose after that boarding game misconduct penalty, resulting in four fights in the second period and a total of 93 penalty minutes for the Flyers and Penguins:
The game ended in a 3-2 overtime decision for the Flyers, but the lasting memory of this game won’t be of the goals scored.
