Alex Ovechkin sends Brian Campbell into the boards

This certainly doesn’t help Ovechkin’s growing reputation of being a cheap or dirty player. As the Blackhawks Brian Campbell goes to retreive the puck behind his net, Ovechkin comes flying in for the check.

Under most circumstances, Campbell turns sideways into the boards and it’s just considered a garden variety check. But Ovechkin caught him slightly in the back and of course, Campbell’s head went crashing into the wall. Extremely unfortunate incident but not necessarily a dirty one. The hit resulted in a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. And even though this is Ovechkin’s third incident of the season, it doesn’t look like he’ll be facing an automatic suspension.

That’s bad news I’m sure for irate Penguins fans who were probably writing letters to Gary Bettman as the hit took place. I, for one, wish the NHL would just adopt the same type of strategy the NBA has employed for years. You know, rigging series so two teams can meet in the playoffs. Oveckin/Crosby might be the best rivalry in sports right now and even non-hockey fans would tune in to see them square off. And by non-hockey fans, I of course mean those Canadians who for some reason were watching curling and dog sledding instead.

--- Did you like this article? And you probably like contests, exclusive content, and smug commentary right? Then why aren't you liking Guyism on Facebook? Show some pride and click the "Like" button below right now: