NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty reports that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey will avoid supplemental discipline for a hit on Matt Grzelcyk of the Boston Bruins.
Morrissey received a five-minute boarding major for the hit, but he wasn’t ejected from an eventual 5-4 shootout win for Winnipeg. The check happened shortly after Brad Marchand landed a hit on Mark Scheifele. You can see the hit for yourself in the video above this post’s headline.
Bruins fans haven’t been happy with the Department of Player Safety lately, as you can see from Stanley Cup of Chowder’s sarcastic headline “Brad Marchand suspended 10 games for Josh Morrissey’s hit on Matt Grzelcyk.”
Two in a row have gone against Bruins: Both Krejci and Grzelcyk get hammered. All good. The 3- game suspension for Backes drive-by on Nielsen ridiculous by comparison.
— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) March 28, 2018
The Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont is referencing this hit on David Krejci by Brayden Schenn:
Brayden Schenn catches David Krejci with a hit to the head pic.twitter.com/GtCEtQm29t
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 22, 2018
The Bruins announced last night that Grzelcyk has an “upper-body injury” and is being evaluated in Boston. The hits seem to keep coming for Boston, with the 24-year-old blueliner joining Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy as other defensemen who are dealing with injuries.
On the bright side, the Bruins announced a one-year extension for Chara earlier today and the team still has some time to heal up by the time the playoffs begin.
[The 2018 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs begin April 11 on the networks of NBC]
Boston’s next game comes against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. The Bruins only trail the Lightning by one point and Boston holds a game in hand on the Bolts, so tomorrow’s contest is a big one in the race for the Atlantic Division title. The Bruins might need to go a little shorthanded in that game, but if nothing else, they’re likely getting accustomed to fighting through injuries.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.