NHL's article on Rangers webpage.
Although I agree that this beast-man does deserve some type of suspension, I find it laughable at how this league continues to work and enforce its rules on the ice. Citing my previous discussion, Flesh-Eating Head-Hunters, it should be understood that in these types of critical, injury-inducing situations, the culprit could very well receive game misconducts for such actions, which we saw happen to our own #17 for what many consider a 'lesser crime.'
Brandon Dubinsky was, for all intents and purposes, ejected from Game 6 due to his boarding call on NHL's beloved Mike Green. He was ejected during a time when the Rangers were, *gasp*, pressing an attack, in a period that they beat Washington in scoring. In fact, it marks only the 3rd out of 18 periods of play in which the Rangers were actually outscoring and outplaying their opponents. Dubinsky has enjoyed 3 points in 6 games so far (including a GWG and an assist on another GWG), while averaging 19:30 ice time. That means that this player has helped account for 66% of the offense that has brought the Rangers into the now 3-3 series tie that they are so desperately clinging to. Having one of our top two players in this series, the other being Ryan Callahan for his heroics all over the ice, ejected, after Dubinsky was bitten (still unaddressed by the NHL as of this post), dimmed any faint spark the Rangers may have started to build in their 5-3 loss yesterday, scoring two goals in the third.
All of this happened already, so what's the point of this post?
The point is that the referees and security personnel enforcing the NHL's rules and code of conduct have the highest impact during a game! When the emotions are on the ice, and the game-changing players are involved (Sean Avery, Blair Betts, Brandon Dubinsky..) all referees and call-making should be done in the immediate, without bias.
When a fan is screaming obscenities in the visiting coach's ear, while spitting on him and pouring beer on him, clearly there is a breech in security. Personnel should be summoned and positioned where necessary. (What are these guys getting paid for?).
When a player's head is targeted by a known-goon who sits atop of the NHL suspension and fighting list, disciplinary action should be taken at that moment. If this player is allowed to go unpenalized, it sends all the wrong messages to the opposite team and the millions of people watching, and will most likely halt any momentum that the victim's team may had been building (and cherishing at this point). Throwing a suspension at him after the fact will mean his average 2:30 ice time will have to go to another Washington player (a no-brainer trade for the opposing team's best Penalty killer on the NHL's #1 PK unit.)
Imagine if, say, Orr blind-sided Ovechkin in the head and left him twitching on the ice to watch the remainder of his team's playoffs from the press box? Obama's back yard would call for a lynching.
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