Maxim Lapierre is regarded by many as a dirty player, and the St. Louis Blues forward is receiving lots of flak for his hit on San Jose Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle.
Early in the first period of the Sharks’ 6-2 win over the Blues Tuesday, Boyle was taken off the ice on a stretcher and sent to the hospital after being hit from behind by Lapierre.
Boyle’s teammates were shaken up after seeing their friend unresponsive on the ice, and they took aim at Lapierre for the play.
“Things like that happen, especially when idiots are idiots,” Joe Pavelski told CSN Bay Area.
Boyle remained at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis overnight, but Sharks head coach Todd McLellan told reporters after the game it was his understanding that Boyle was doing okay. Boyle was “alert and moving his extremities,” according to a Sharks spokesperson.
“It’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. He was shaking; his eyes were up at the roof. We tried talking to him, and he wasn’t responding. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Sharks forward Logan Couture, who added Lapierre was chirping on the bench prior to his hit on Boyle.
“A player that probably shouldn’t even be in the league is taking out one of the best players in the world. That guy’s got a history. After the first shift, he’s yelling at us from their bench that he’s coming after us, and then he does that. I don’t even know. It’s pretty gutless. Then he turtles. Be a man if you make a hit like that. Don’t turtle and run behind the linesman.”
The team announced Boyle will be returning to San Jose Wednesday to continue his medical care and undergo further evaluation.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has offered Lapierre an in-person disciplinary hearing scheduled for Friday to discuss the hit. An in-person hearing means the NHL has the ability to implement a potential suspension of more than five games. Lapierre is suspended pending his hearing.
In 2010, while with the Montreal Canadiens, Lapierre was suspended four games by the NHL for a dangerous hit from behind on Sharks forward Scott Nichol. That is currently the only suspension he’s had in his eight-year NHL career.
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Also in the game, Sharks forward Brent Burns was assessed a two-minute minor boarding penalty for checking Brenden Morrow from behind. Watch both hits below:
