from Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

The UFC is where somebody like Capitals winger Tom Wilson belongs. He has no place in what should be the NHL's showcase series of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

If he's allowed to play in Game 2, the league's Player Safety department has whiffed in front of an open net. Suspending Wilson for his knee-on-knee hit on the Penguins' Conor Sheary — a player shorter than him by 8 inches — should be a tap-in.

Of course, should is a word used way too often at this point of the hockey season.

The playoffs should be when skilled players shine. Instead, hockey fans are too often tasked with watching circus acts such as Wilson's one-ring show.

The NHL's national broadcast partner should sell the great game of hockey. Instead, hockey fans are forced to watch NBC Sports' version of Don Cherry.

Thing is, Cherry is entertaining. Cherry actually knows something about hockey.

And Cherry is a Canadian tradition.

Mike Milbury traditionally makes a fool of himself, a trend that doesn't help the NHL win over the American sporting public. He did it again Thursday night during the third intermission of NBC Sports Network's broadcast of Game 1. He said Wilson “wasn't able to get his leg out of the way.”

The guess here is even Cherry rolled his eyes at the nonsense.

It's one thing to let 'em play. It's something else — and something awful — to let a series featuring six of the last nine MVPs to be taken over by the likes of Wilson.

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If you missed Wilson's hit, watch it here.