Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said he watched Bruins forward Taylor Hall’s hit on Nathan MacKinnon during the first intermission. He said he didn’t think the hit that knocked Colorado’s star forward out of the game just 2:22 into the first period was dirty.
But he still wanted Hall to answer for it and tried to engage him in a fight in Colorado’s win over the Bruins Wednesday.
“The hit in itself - l looked at it during intermission - I don’t think was that bad,” Landeskog said. “But ultimately when one of your best friends and teammate, and ultimately your best player gets hit like that in the neutral zone, you have to make sure that next time anyone thinks about doing that, they have to pay a price. That there’s going to be some consequences for that. It doesn’t have to be a dirty play for that to happen.”
Hall, who rarely fights, skated away from shoves and offers to fight from Landeskog.
“Hall didn’t want to answer for it. That’s unfortunate,” Landeskog said and later added. “I was trying to force him to. He didn’t want to. That’s O.K.”
According to HockeyFights.com, Hall has fought just twice in the NHL.
The play looked ugly at full speed when MacKinnon crumpled to the ice and came up bleeding heavily from his face. It was originally called 5-minute major on Hall. But upon review the referees, who don’t have the option to wipe it out altogether dropped it down to a minor as the video showed it was MacKinnon’s own awkwardly raised stick that caused the injury. TNT’s broadcast team questioned whether it was a penalty at all.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar thought the referees were right to call it just a minor, but the hit still bothered him.
“I didn’t like it. Blindside. A little late, a little high,” he said. “The way he catches him, Nate’s stick goes up so I believe they probably made the right call. But I don’t love the hit. Whether it’s really solid or just a glancing blow, it’s the kind of hit the league is trying to get rid of.”
Even though his players’ frustration with Hall led to two penalties that Boston turned into the two power-play goals, Bednar liked his players’ reaction.
“Just because the department of player safety doesn’t deem something that bad. It’s what your team is willing to accept,” Bednar said. “If your players don’t like it, they’ll try to get you to answer the bell. I have no problem with the way our guys handled it.”
You can watch the hit here.
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