On this play Carcillo is trailing Tom Gilbert of the Oilers. Gilbert is looking to play the puck behind his net to his partner Ladislav Smid and get the play moving back up ice for the Oil. Now, the reasonable player here – if they chose to hit Gilbert – would make contact with their body and rub Gilbert out into the boards. Carcillo disagrees with this approach. He takes an aggressive line to the defender – note that he takes a line to the defender and not the puck – and catapults Gilbert into the endboards with a shove from the red line. Gilbert gets parallel with the ice and goes face first into the boards very awkwardly, landing on Carcillo's left knee in the process.
Take a look…
It goes without saying that this hit is absolutely suspension worthy. The fact Carcillo carries this reputation, made no attempt to play the puck and really looked like he was trying to bury Gilbert as opposed to simply rubbing him out as part of the forecheck all point to some time in the press box as a result of the forthcoming suspension. He was given five and a game for the hit and rightfully so.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say eight games for Carcillo here and possibly more depending on the extent of his injury. Feel free to leave your predictions or debate whether or not he deserves a suspension in the first place.
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