David Backes blasts Ekman-Larsson from behind

This is one of the hits in the NHL last night, that got a little bit of scrutiny, St. Blues forward David Backes blasts Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Ekman-Larsson from behind. Backes received a two minute penalty for boarding on the play.

This is a dangerous hit, these are the types of hits that the NHL is trying to remove from the game of hockey. I can't believe that Backes was the only one that got a penalty out of the scrum. It also appears, that the hit on Ekman-Larsson was in retaliation for a hit earlier in the game, that went uncalled.

Two more bad hits from last night's game

At the 11:o1 mark of the third period Phoenix's Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal's drove the Kings forward Dustin Brown into the boards with push check. Hanzal was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for this play and could end up with a hearing with the Department of Player Safety for this hit.


The Coyotes forward Shane Doan was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for this hit on the Los Angeles Kings forward Trevor Lewis at the 16:29 mark of the second period of last night's game. On this play I believe the refs made the right call even though Lewis did turn towards the boards at the last second; the refs had no choice to give Doan a major penalty on this play.