Saturday night is fairly young, yet the NHL already has a couple new, questionable hits to look at. Add Pittsburgh Penguins tough guy Deryk Engelland’s check on Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader to the mix.
Engelland, 31, received a match penalty for the hit. Here’s video of that check:
If you want some added perspective, here are a couple takes from beat writers on the scene:Abdelkader went pretty low with head, but responsibility to avoid head is on player delivering hit, in this case Engelland. He’ll pay.
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) December 15, 2013
That last reverse angle appears to show Engelland catching Abdelkader’s head as the principal point of contact.
— Seth Rorabaugh (@emptynetters) December 15, 2013
Abdelkader needed help off the ice. He won’t return to the game, according to MLive.com’s Ansar Khan.
Engelland has one three-game suspension (checking to the head) on his record, according to Cap Geek’s listings.
