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Mike Milbury’s Hat Trick: Rick DiPietro should really know better

Rick DiPietro, Brent Johnson

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Brent Johnson (1) knocks New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro to the ice with a punch in the third period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. The Penguins shut out the Islanders 3-0. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Each week here at ProHockeyTalk, NHL on NBC’s Mike Milbury gives us his take on three hot topics of discussion around the league. We’re happy to have Mike join us and give us his unique and fiery opinions on what’s going on in the NHL.

1. Brent Johnson and Rick DiPietro throwing punches during last night’s 3-0 Penguins win. What in the world is Rick DiPietro thinking there and how much did coach Jack Capuano and GM Garth Snow hold their breath watching that?

You know, Ricky’s a great competitor and he’s gone through a lot and I think might’ve been frustrated giving up a soft goal earlier in the game. You know, when it got to be 3-0 you should probably just let it go but he ended up stepping into Cooke. From what I gather, he gave the little glove shake to indicate to Johnson he wanted to go.He bit off more than he could chew and he looked like he wasn’t even ready to go.

It was odd and Johnson gave him exactly what he deserved. He gave him a good, swift slap in the head and that was the end of the story. DiPietro came looking for it and Johnson delivered it. As Keith Jones pointed to me off the air, DiPietro saved 21 shots in the game but he made 22 with the last one being the punch.

By all means DiPietro should know better. He should just simply know better. With all his injuries all he needs is another problem that’s self imposed and starting a fight that’s absolutely meaningless in the course of a game qualifies as that.

2. Jordan Staal didn’t have to sit for his punch on Brandon Prust. Did the league make the right call on that in not suspending him for the match penalty?

Absolutely. Keith Jones and I talked about it on Versus after it happened. You saw the incident unravel. You saw Prust make a run at Tyler Kennedy and Staal approached him and he hit him in the mouth with his elbow. The reaction was maybe it was a milisecond of delay on Staal’s part but I thought it’s what any other hockey player would’ve done.

Prust was being a little bit of an agitator and wound up whacking Staal first. Staal quickly retaliated with a big first hit and Prust embellished it big time. It’s hard for me to say because I’m not inside of his skull, but he looked fine to me afterwards and he’s the guy that initiated the hit.

I thought it was terrific the league rescinded the five-minute major and I thought it was great from the league perspective to do that. Not that they’re looking for my endorsement or anything.

3. The Rangers are getting healthy. They’ve gotten Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan back and they get Vinny Prospal back tonight. Are the Rangers a legitimate Cup contender?

Based on Montreal’s success last year, they can go a long way with the way the Rangers are playing. They play as a team, they play hard, they pursue the puck well, they’re gritty enough, and they get great goaltending. In either case, I don’t know that they’ve got the explosive talent to get them to the promised land. I think the Rangers are a fun club to watch and they’re milking their talent for almost all that it’s worth.