Definitely boarding and what was the purpose of the hit? The puck is covered and he plows a guy standing over his goaltender having never touched the puck. The Flyers are usuallly dishing out the hits and getting the suspensions, so let’s see if the NHL does anything about a hit on a prone player when it is the Flyers taking the abuse.

Posted by hockey1919 from mid-atlantic on 02/23/11 at 12:48 PM ET

I don’t see how it’s boarding, Bartulis was so far from the boards he was on the other side of the goal line.  a penalty, sure…looks like roughing to me based on the fact that the play was basically over.  the only reason it turned out so bad was that Bartulis wasn’t ready for it.  could maybe be considered blindside but that’s a bit of a stretch….he was looking down at the puck.

Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 02/23/11 at 01:20 PM ET

Boarding wasn’t the right call. Roughing probably. Just after the whistle. Definite penalty. Not sure about suspension, depends on if they think he had time to pull up or stop after the whistle blew. My opinion is he had time to pull up a bit but not stop. Instead, he barrelled into him at full speed. Nasty hit.

Posted by awould on 02/23/11 at 01:39 PM ET

Boarding is any penalty that sends a player violently into the boards. Looks like he hit the boards with his head and shoulders pretty violently to me. I hate the hit because it was completely unnecessary.

Posted by hockey1919 from mid-atlantic on 02/23/11 at 03:40 PM ET

Boarding is any penalty that sends a player violently into the boards.

I guess you’re right. Just seems more like roughing since he had to fly like 8 feet or whatever. It was unnecessary and late, which made it more dangerous because it clearly wasn’t expected.

Posted by awould on 02/23/11 at 03:42 PM ET