The Senators scored just seconds into the first period after a Peter Regin blast from just inside the blue line beat Marc-Andre Fleury, who looks a little rattled right now. Pittsburgh answered later in the period after a brutal Jason Spezza turnover in the defensive zone, and a crashing Sidney Crosby buried the soft rebound off of Brian Elliott past the Senators goaltender.
Pittsburgh and Ottawa have really stepped up the physical play, and there was more than a handful of jostling after the whistle. Max Talbot and Zach Smith even took the gloves off after the period ended, and the referees let it go. Don't think that was necessarily the smartest decision by the stripes to allow the two to throw down, as the physical play will probably continue to rise over the next two periods.
Obviously, the one play that will continued to be talked about and looked at was the hit by Andy Sutton on Jordan Leopold. As Leopold skated down the wing with the puck, Andy Sutton met him and delivered one of the most bone-jarring hits I've ever seen. Sutton has to be one of the hardest hitters in the NHL, no question about it.
To me, this was a classic Andy Sutton hit. Questionable enough to be talked about, but not necessarily dirty. I didn't see Sutton leave his feet, and I did see Leopold skating with his head down. The old adage goes "Keep your head up!" and it may have helped Leopold here. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Jordan Leopold has been knocked out of the game, and that was pretty obvious from the get go. He was knocked cold before hitting the ice, and laid motionless for quite a few seconds.
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