David Backes didn’t pull any punches following Wednesday’s Game 2 loss to the Blues, harping on the severity of the hit that sent Matt Grzelcyk to the hospital in the closing minutes of the first period.
The hit, delivered by Blues center Oskar Sundqvist, only resulted in a two-minute minor for boarding, but Backes believed that supplementary discipline was going to be in the cards for the St. Louis pivot.
A look at the hit on by Oskar Sundqvist on Matt Grzelcyk. Didn't look good. pic.twitter.com/3yjlbhgkvs
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 30, 2019
"I don’t think that’s a hit we want in our game,”
. “I think it’s from behind, elevated into his head into the glass. If that’s a two-minute penalty, there’s going to be a shortage of defensemen in this series by the end of it.
“That’s in somebody else’s hands. That’s something I think that if I’m making that hit, I’m probably watching from the bleachers for a few but we will see what happens with their player.”
It appears as though the NHL Department of Player Safety agreed with Backes’ sentiments — as the league announced Thursday night that Sundqvist will be suspended for Game 3 on Saturday night for his hit on Grzelcyk.
This is the first suspension of Sundqvist’s career — and the fifth time this postseason that a player has been suspended, joining
Nikita Kucherov, Nazem Kadri, Charlie McAvoy
and
Joe Thornton
.
While Sundqvist will be sidelined for Saturday’s contest at Enterprise Center, Grzelcyk’s timetable is much more uncertain — as the puck-moving defenseman did not travel with the rest of the team to St. Louis on Thursday.
“
He's in (concussion) protocol. When we have a further update, we'll give it to you. Obviously, we're going to list him day to day,”
Bruce Cassidy
said of Grzelcyk. “It's Thursday, we don't play till Saturday. Typically I’ll give out the lineup either Friday or Saturday. Right now that's the best I got for you. See how it goes from there.”
BSJ Analysis
We’ve already discussed the hole left by Grzelcyk on the blue line if
but the loss of Sundqvist is also a big hit for a Blues team that — like the Bruins — have received plenty of contributions from its bottom six during this Cup run.
Even though St. Louis’ top line of
Brayden Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko
and
Jaden Schwartz
h
so far this series, Sundqvist has been a key cog for Blues head coach
Craig Berube
— who noted Thursday that he was pondering a matchup in Game 3 that would see Sundqvist’s line go up against
Patrice Bergeron’s
crew.
Tied for eighth on the Blues in postseason scoring with three goals and nine total points over 21 games played this spring, Sundqvist has also ranks sixth amongst St. Louis forwards with 15:55 ATOI — to go along with an average of 1:29 on the penalty kill.
The man in the middle of a Blues fourth line that has scored three 5v5 goals in 102:19 of 5v5 TOI together this postseason (even with just 30.0% of their faceoffs coming in the O-zone), Sundqvist also is fourth on the club in hits (63) — giving St. Louis suffocating forecheck much less of a bite going into a pivotal Game 3.
As for the actual ruling from the league’s DOPS, Cassidy noted earlier today that it’s a bit of a tough situation all around — given that Sundqvist’s hit didn’t necessarily seem to have an intent to injure. However, even if Grzelcyk was off balance when Sundqvist made his move, t
noted that Grzelcyk’s positioning was not something that
“absolves Sundqvist of responsibility.”
do believe there's a different generation that was taught, because those hits I don't want to say were acceptable 20 years ago, they happened a lot more,” Cassidy said. “Now you're a little less inclined to protect yourself in general. My feeling on those hits, we've been talking about these for four, five, six whatever amount of years. On the person delivering the hit, has to be aware of a player in a prone position. I've always believed a player has to protect themselves.
“They have to put themselves in spots. But some are unavoidable. That was a hit, in a prone position, he followed through on the hit. Got penalized for it. ...I've always felt it's on both players to be aware of what's going on. Things happen. Not the first hit from behind, won't be the last. He'll be held accountable or not. We'll move on.”