It’s hard to imagine what Dallas Stars forward Brett Ritchie was thinking here.
Chasing after a puck in deep in the Arizona Coyotes zone with a little over two minutes left in the second period, Ritchie decided to not let up on Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski, whose numbers were the only thing former saw as he drove the latter dangerously into the end boards.
The video isn’t kind to Ritchie, and there appears to be little room for debate on how dumb and unsafe this hit was.
Goligoski was at the mercy of Ritchie, and the latter failed to show him any.
Ritchie, unsurprisingly, was given five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for the hit.
It would be surprising if that’s all he got, too. This sort of thing is bound to pique the interest of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
Let’s review:
- The hit was dangerous;
- It was unnecessary;
- Goligoski was in a vulnerable state;
- It left a player injured, one who did not return to the game (the Coyotes announced he has an upper-body injury)
The NHL is trying to get a couple of hits out of the game, and this is certainly one of them.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck