NEW YORK -- The Penguins played a defenseman short for much of Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Rangers here at Madison Square Garden.
Jeff Petry left Thursday's game just five minutes into the first period after taking an elbow to the face from Rangers forward Tyler Motte. It was a scary scene, with Petry laying facedown on the ice for a few moments while athletic trainer Chris Stewart came out to the ice to assist him. Petry skated off to the locker room with assistance from Stewart and two teammates and did not return for the rest of the game.
Mike Sullivan didn't yet have an update on Petry's status after the game.
What happened on that play that injured Petry, and was it a dirty move by Motte? Let's take a look.
Both Petry and Motte were going into the corner in the Penguins' end in a race for the puck. Motte got to the puck first and made a pass, with his elbow extending behind him in the follow-though. The elbow made contact with Petry in what appeared to be the jaw area as Petry skated into Motte:
It really didn't seem like Motte was even aware Petry was that close to him, at least not with enough time to have the awareness to intentionally throw an elbow back at him.
The NHL rulebook defines elbowing as "the use of an extended elbow in a manner that may or may not cause injury," and says that a minor penalty can be called "based on the degree of violence." There's nothing in there that explicitly mentions intent. The only mention of intent is in the "match penalty" section of the rulebook, where it says that a match penalty should be assessed if "the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by elbowing."
It's pretty safe to say that Motte wasn't intending to injure Petry, but it could certainly be considered a "violent" elbow given the result. But the impact was just as much caused by Petry skating directly into Motte as it was Motte extending the elbow. That would be a tough call to make, given Petry's own involvement in the play.
The Penguins didn't get a single power play in this game. The Rangers got two, both results of Marcus Pettersson penalties. Sullivan was asked if the lack of calls against the Rangers in this game was a product of the officiating, or something else.
“I don’t know," Sullivan said with what looked to be a hint of a smirk. "Might have been the cleanest game of the year.”
The Penguins are scheduled to practice at 11:30 a.m. on Friday here in New York. We might get an update on Petry as soon as then. If Petry is sidelined, Chad Ruhwedel looks to be the defenseman who slots in on the right side in Petry's absence on Saturday against the Rangers.
