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Jeff Skinner thinks Jared Cowen’s hit was clean

Jeff Skinner

More than a few people had a problem with Jared Cowen’s hit on Jeff Skinner from Tuesday, but the young Carolina Hurricanes forward isn’t one of them.

He essentially chalked the whole thing up to a hockey play when discussing the check with the Raleigh News & Observer.

“He’s a big guy obviously,” Skinner said. “I only looked at the hit once or twice. It’s pretty compact. His arms are in. I’m kinda leaning forward and there’s not much he can do. He’s trying to take the body and it’s a physical game.

“That play happens all the time in a game. Guys are going to run into each other. I don’t think it was dirty. I think it’s a clean hit.”

Really, the 20-year-old is just trying not to think too much about how he could have avoided the collision, which fueled worries that he suffered another concussion (GM Jim Rutherford says he didn’t).

“Go back and look at it and maybe I shouldn’t have been cutting across there,” Skinner said. “I saw (Cowen). I didn’t think he would step up there in the neutral zone but he did. I don’t think there’s any point in dwelling on it. I’m sure I’ll try to learn from it but it’s done and it’s time to move forward.”