The NHL has suspended Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik three games for his hit on Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta in Game Two. The hit was late and primarily targeted Maatta’s head.
Matta left the game and did not return. The Penguins said he is “obviously out.” Orpik had suffered a head injury of his own during the Philadelphia series.
On Sunday, Orpik had a phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
In the video, Patrick Burke makes point of the lateness of the hit. Maatta, Burke says, was not eligible to be hit at all. “Unacceptably high and excessively late,” is how he puts it.
