Washington Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov was fortunate to avoid serious injury when Pierre-Edouard Bellemare hammered him from behind into the end boards Monday.
The Philadelphia Flyers forward was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for the play. Even though he immediately showed remorse and checked to see if Orlov was OK, Bellemare received a world of criticism from outspoken analyst Jeremy Roenick.
“This disgusts me in the biggest way,” the former player said. “You can see the numbers, you know what was coming, this is a race for the puck and Bellemare forcefully pushes Orlov into the boards.
“This was as close as I have seen to somebody possibly breaking his neck. This is totally inexcusable. This is a lack of respect for a player’s safety, it’s a lack of respect for a player in general and I hope that the National Hockey League suspends him and keeps him out the rest of the playoffs because we cannot have this.”
The “rest of the playoffs” for the Flyers could mean just one more game as they’re down 3-0 to the Capitals in their first round series following an embarrassing Game 3 home loss.
Orlov remained in the game and was seen smiling on the Capitals bench shortly after the hit. Considering how fast both players were skating and the angle in which he crashed into the boards, the Russian defenceman should consider himself lucky.
“I’ve said this time and time again, the lack of respect of guys hitting people from behind three feet from the boards, someone is going to break their neck one day,” Roenick added.
“This is a chase for the puck from the blue line. This is an opportunity — you know the situation is coming — you can think about what is going to happen and the ramifications about what you’re about to do and he still goes ahead and forcefully hits Orlov into the boards. It drives me crazy.”
