Ron & Don: Cherry weighs in on Kadri’s hit on Ovechkin

Don Cherry and Ron MacLean discuss Nazem Kadri’s hit on Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid’s hit on Marcus Sorensen, the Calgary Flames being swept and much more.

The first period of the Washington Capitals’ Game 5 matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs provided some drama—and a bit of controversy, too.

Toronto’s Nazem Kadri caught Alex Ovechkin with a low check that seemed to make contact with the Russian forward’s knee. Ovechkin had to be helped off the ice, and Kadri took a two-minute minor penalty for tripping. The Capitals scored the first goal of the game on the power play.

But was it the correct call? Don Cherry doesn’t think so.

“This is a perfect, legal hit,” he said during a segment of Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night in Canada.

Cherry joked that back in the day, Kadri would have received a medal for the hit on Ovechkin.

“It’s a beauty! It’s a beauty!” Cherry said. “And he gets a penalty, and they get a goal. It seems to be now if a guy gets hit and he’s hurt, they look for a penalty. And that was not a penalty.”

Cherry added: “That was a bad call as far as I’m concerned.”

Correct call or not, there was good news for Washington, as Ovechkin returned to the ice for the second period.

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