Let's put this into two parts the game and the Malkin hit on Wheeler.
First the game. It was a bit of a rodeo for the Jets but they did something they had not done in some time in Pittsburgh and that was give themselves a chance to win. In fact they should have put the Penguins away when they had a 4 minute power play in the third after Wheeler took a nasty hit to the head. Even in OT with the Ehlers breakaway the Jets had the best chance to put the game away and failed due to the play of Marc-Andre Fleury who was spectacular in this game.
The Jets played with a physical presence rarely seen and they were also willing to push the play and scoring chances. They put 47 shot attempts at Fleury and kept up with a team known for pushing play and possession. They got the point, so take the moral victory right?
The hit.
Jets Twitter was on fire with venom for the hit by Malkin and I even saw some Philly fans weighing in with some descriptive thoughts on the player and hit. Gotta love rivalries. I was the contrarian last night and still stand by my thoughts, the hit was bad because he hit the head but I don't think he intended to and I don't expect supplemental discipline.
Here's the video with lots of angles
Here are some close ups.
So there they are. It's a hit to the head, no one should debate that but Malkin came in for a hit in my opinion and while Wheeler did not have possession of the puck, Stuart did, he was close enough to be seen to be playing it.
I know people are going to say that Malkin left his feet, they all do when big hits are made. The inertia and contact lifts guys up. What he did not do was leave his feet to make the hit, that's the big difference. Where things get a bit more grey is he kept his should and are down, a rarity in the league, and that's what causes the hit and likely prevents Wheeler from being out cold. He tried come in shoulder first and drop Wheeler but Wheeler who is 6'4" never pulled up straight he kept low and thus it's a positioning problem.
Boom head is hit. Is it a targeting, not in my opinion but perhaps we give the guy a major for being careless. Think of it this way, if we want to take these kinds of hits out of the game your going to lose lots of hits because that one is due to circumstance. Is Malkin a dirty #$#%# pig as some said? At times sure but I don't think that's the reputation that will follow him after his career as much as Philly fans might like it too.
This is the reason why video review should drop offsides and deal with penalties. Get this stuff right and give players a reason to be careful because the punishment can affect the game. It's a hit to the head and Malkin should have been punished accordingly but it's not as bad as Jets fans want to make it out to be. Sorry I can't there.
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