Pacioretty leaves game on a stretcher

[Big Ev]

bull$hit, especially coming from Matt Cooke's biggest supporter and defender, get bent Ev

I'm sorry I should get bent if I disagree with you. What a novel concept.

[ocossette]

Chara is a player that can definitively lose his mind from time to time, especially against the habs!

[Big Ev]

Oh hey look, other people don't think it's a dirty hit:

TSNBobMcKenzie Bob McKenzie
As for Chara hit, first reaction, subject to review, is that it wasn't an overly dirty or malcious hit. Interference? Yes. Terrible result.

Glass/boards configuration exacerbated it in big way. Started as a simple tho late rub out with bad consequences.

adater adater
Any other place in rink, Chara's hit on Pacioretty is clean and nothing happens. Not his fault turnbuckle was right there suddenly.

Wait a minute, the puck wasn't loooong gone. It was only gone for a half second and Chara finishing off the play. Hard hit but not dirty imo


and Milbury also agreed that it wasn't overly dirty

[The Comish]

After watching the video, I take back what I said, I am not convinced that Chara intended to put him into the turnbuckle. The reverse angle has me questioning whether the hit was anything other than Chara being 25% bigger/stronger than everyone else and throwing a check, albeit late, to prevent Pacioretty from getting by him.

I don't see how Chara will be suspended after seeing that angle.

[iamlilc]

It definitely looks worse than what Chara really did. Yes, he used his body to push him towards the boards, but he didn't try and aim Pax's head into the turnbuckle. It's unfortunate, but both players were going hard after the puck and it looked like Chara was just finishing his check when it squirted free. They were close together, so it was Chara's brute strength and size that pushed Pax towards the boards. I'm sure Pax didn't even see the turnbuckle to brace himself, so he got hit with full force.

No suspension should be coming. It was just a hockey play that ended badly.

[gfunkb7]

I don't think he deserved what he got. Chara isn't a dirty player either. No suspension is forthcoming, IMO.

Deliberate hit into the edge of the board doesn't justify a 5minute + game? Please justify.

[The Comish]

I'm sorry I should get bent if I disagree with you. What a novel concept.

Hey Ev, you can get bent if you disagree with me too, but it's more of a comic book concept than a novel one.

[fulcrum]

Seriously he just pushed him hard and it's unfortunate the stantion was there. Tough break that he got hurt but not too dirty of a hit in my eyes. Deserved a penalty but not 5 and a game.

I don't know man....I want to see a better quality video than that...but that looked intentional to me.

[ocossette]

If he had no intentions he'd finish his hit and Pac would've been slowed down but no, he only gave him a little push!

[Big Ev]

Deliberate hit into the edge of the board doesn't justify a 5minute + game? Please justify.

People hit people into the edge of the boards all the time, sometimes right into the bench. It just so happened that the stantion was there, unfortunately. I don't think Chara realized that. He's a guy who doesn't usually dish otu hits, and he usually takes it easy on guys because he knows he can do SERIOUS damage out there. Clearly interference but not much else IMO. But you know due to the crowd bias that they would throw him out of the game.

I'm not trying to go against the opinion here, I'm just calling it like I (and others, clearly) see it.

[ericdaoust]

Intent or not it's highly irresponsible.

[Ari]

Agree that if that hit had happened anywhere else on the ice it would have been clean enough. So you can either choose to believe that Chara wasn't aware of where he was. Or you can choose to believe that Chara tried to hurt a guy who he's hated for awhile now in a frustrating game that Chara was losing badly.

[bondon]

Let's be honest guys all we can do is speculate...let's keep it civil.
My take on this hit after seeing it a whole bunch of times is that it was clearly an intentional hit, but like a lot of people have said already, he didn't intend to almost kill him.

I don't think its fair to say that Chara didn't know where the glass was, as my brother just pointed out to me, Chara has played his entire career in NYI/OTT/BOS ...meaning a lot of games in the Bell Centre. There is no way in hell that he doesn't know that the glass is jutting out there.
However, I think Chara's been aching for a chance to pay some retribution for the Pacioretty shove a couple months ago after Max scored the GWG.
I think what happened was Chara saw an opportunity to exact some revenge, and experienced what I would call a lapse of judgement caused by emotions. He saw the opportunity to throw a hit that would exact some revenge and he took it. Everyone's forgetting how fast paced the game is (and the extent of how fast Pacioretty's body flew after he hit that glass shows it). Split-second decisions can have terrible consequences, and unfortunately for this case...Chara made a really, really bad decision.
I don't think the league suspends him for this, but needless to say many sports writers are going to take this opportunity to bash the NHL's disciplinary board tomorrow morning.

[gfunkb7]

People hit people into the edge of the boards all the time, sometimes right into the bench. It just so happened that the stantion was there, unfortunately. I don't think Chara realized that. He's a guy who doesn't usually dish otu hits, and he usually takes it easy on guys because he knows he can do SERIOUS damage out there. Clearly interference but not much else IMO. But you know due to the crowd bias that they would throw him out of the game.

I'm not trying to go against the opinion here, I'm just calling it like I (and others, clearly) see it.

Of course - That's why we're all here debating.

FYI, the ref practically automatically called a 5 to chara. I don't think the crowd have affected an experienced Bill McCrary.

[Ari]

b0ndon, yeah it is easy to have a split second lapse in judgement out there. But seeing as that can end someones career, or impair them for life, its every players responsibility not to allow that error, and every player is responsible when they slip and do horrible damage to somebody.