The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins were up to their old tricks Tuesday night.
The Pennsylvania rivals had a little extra nasty as they met in Philadelphia. The game featured a handful of fights and 93 penalty minutes when it was all said and done. When the dust finally settles, the game might also produce a suspension.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, that suspension might be handed to Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo. The Philly tough guy has a reputation for playing a less-than-respectable brand of hockey, and he furthered that rep Tuesday night when he boarded Penguins defenseman Kris Letang.
The big hit injured Letang and earned Rinaldo a 5-minute major for boarding as well as a game misconduct penalty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7nr2UlQZxI
As you can see, Letang went down hard after being driven into the boards and glass. He left the game, and did not return. Penguins coach Mike Johnston is unsure how long the club might be without the D-man.
As for Rinaldo, he seemed pretty proud of what he did.
[tweet https://twitter.com/davegisaac/status/557744493127290880 align=’center’]
He likely took some pretty heavy backlash for those comments and tried to clarify them via Twitter after the game.
[tweet https://twitter.com/RinaldoZac/status/557781793479598081 align=’center’]
Rinaldo has been offered an in-person hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, which means he could be looking at a suspension of five games or more.
