Milan Lucic is one of the most unique players in the NHL. His combination of skill, size and absolute nastiness are hard to find. He is the type of player that really affects a lineup. He gives attitude and confidence to every one of his teammates. As a coach or GM I would welcome him on my team anytime.

The other night during the Bruins first round match up with the Red Wings, Lucic had an incident with Wings defenceman Danny DeKeyser. The common word used to describe the incident was “spearing”. I don’t think it was a spear. To me a spear is when you use the top of your stick like a knife. You poke it right at another player’s body to cause pain. 

Lucic used the shaft of his stick, not to the blade. This was not a spearing situation. So it falls into a grey zone. I would probably describe it as a slash.

He was fined 5k for this slash. Twitter was all up in arms about the lack of suspension. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Suspension for a slash?

It was a dirty play. That is for sure. Spearing happens more than many fans know or realize. I would have hated to get speared when I was playing. I don’t remember getting speared but if I had been there would have been no doubt I would have retaliated very aggressively. I believe that dirty plays should be met with a dirty reply. I know that “An eye for an eye makes the world blind;” doesn’t matter to me when we are talking NHL hockey (notice I said NHL hockey, these guys are professionals, not ten years old playing in Tim Bit jerseys).

That all being said there is no way this should have been more than a fine. A spear looks bad, very bad but doesn’t even register as close to the dirty hits I dislike so much.

Hawks defenceman Brent Seabrook absolutely hammered St. Louis Blues captain David Backes. For this he gets suspended three games: 

Now would you rather be slashed by Lucic or run over like that when the puck isn’t even around you?

These types of plays are the ones that cause short and long term damage to NHL players. Look at Backes… he really has lost the ability stand up after the hit. I will be very surprised if this wasn’t a concussion. Very scary stuff.

It is time for everyone to get some perspective when evaluating these types of plays.

Man do the Sharks look fast or is it that the Kings look slow? I think the Sharks look very fast. Many of the D for the Kings are a step behind trying to control these Sharks on the attack. I think for the next game there will be an adjustment made by Sutter to take some of the pressure off.

It will be the old HIGH AND HARD OFF THE GLASS. He will ask his D to get back there as fast as possible and just rifle it off the glass into the neutral zone. This will frustrate the Sharks forwards and hopefully back them off.

Nice to see both Raffi Torres and Mike Brown playing well for the Sharks. I never liked the trade of Brown to the Sharks. Why could one of the top teams in the NHL find a home for him and not the Oilers? He would look just fine on the Oilers fourth line alongside Hendricks and Gordon. He brings speed, can kill penalties and a hard edge.

If I watch NHL hockey till I die I will never be able to understand the goalie interference calls that are made.:

Why is this not a goal? I think that Price actually pushes off on Kilhorn after Kilhorn is pushed into Price. This one counts as a goal for me all day long. The truth is it doesn’t really matter. Without Bishop the Bolts never really had a fighting chance.