Islanders Point Blank: Laich thinks Viz hit was a "Good" penalty to take.

[PK Cronin]

Am I the only one who thinks it was a clean hit. If that was Clutterbuck laying that hit everyone here would be defending him. Homerism running rampant.

The only part I take issue with is the amount of strides he took leading into the hit. Otherwise it's just a nasty hit because of the size difference and how it played out.

 

[CDirt]

I really don't care what Laich has to say. I used to respect the guy but this is ridiculous.

I think Wilson woke the bear with that hit. Viz didn't have possession of the puck at any point so that in and of itself makes it dirty. Ovechkin, Backstrom and Laich are going to feel the butt hurt after this one.

Isles can play a very physical nasty game as a unit. They haven't really done that since earlier this season. People seem so focused on size this series but the Isles have some guys that can flatten people. Would like to see Zeeker, Lee, Nelson, Okposo, Clutter, Martin and Boychuck play with a little more bite.

I'd also like to see those guys really start to drive the net and give Holtby hell.

We take this series in six. We are winning the next two.

 

[lacunacoil777]

The problem is a caps player admits what most observed...the caps as a team discussed that they need to injure islanders defensemen as soon as possible because with Hamonic injured the caps discussed how thin the isles would be if they could injure a top isles defensemen. Im sure they were hoping it would be Boychuck..in the first game they were obviously targeting him. Ive missed half the series since so I don't know if it continued or not

 

[LeapOnOver]

You cannot compare a clean, series ending hit on Viz to what the Isles fans did the other night.

First of all, I don't agree on your clean hit assessment. I'm trying not be biased here and it wasn't blatantly dirty, but it does appear Wilson went for Viz's head and that's absolutely against the rules hence the penalty. IF it was a clean hit, there would have been no penalty called and that is indisputable. So you can drop the clean hit thing. Viz was slouched over some and I don't think Wilson could have avoided his head easily and it was hard for him to slow up after lining him up. So it's not suspension worthy, but it was against the rules.

Secondly, you are right we can't compare what Islander's fans did to this. In fact, there is no comparison because these guys make millions of dollars and Islanders fans actually PAID to see the game. We certainly should be holding the professional to higher standards than the fans. They are the millionaires. So you can boohoo all you want about some rabble rousing Caps fans but you are right about there being no comparison. Just not the way you think.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Exactly. Caps know they can bruise the Isles and not worry about the PP doing squat. If the PP burned the Caps, they wouldn't be lining up Vis left and right. It's simple really, the Isles haven't made the Caps pay for their play.

I said a long time ago this would be a big factor in the playoffs. Special teams are huge and now that the Caps know the Isles have a useless PP they can begin to take more liberties as the series progresses. Hopefully the Isles will wake up, but after outplaying them so badly 5 v 5 8/9 periods it's a shame they don't have a stranglehold on this series.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

The problem is a caps player admits what most observed...the caps as a team discussed that they need to injure islanders defensemen as soon as possible because with Hamonic injured the caps discussed how thin the isles would be if they could injure a top isles defensemen. Im sure they were hoping it would be Boychuck..in the first game they were obviously targeting him. Ive missed half the series since so I don't know if it continued or not

Huh? Where'd you get that? It might be true, but I doubt it. They are playing hard against the Islanders every shift and that includes laying as many guys out as they can. If you hit enough guys hard, a few are going to break. Vis broke. Such is life in the NHL.

Yup, that's why is was Sooooo great when Jethro gave a Shultz a public beating back then....
Shultz and the rest of those punks had it coming...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kApcM6fAVg

I loved our 70's team. Most of them could fight, and throw a check with meaning. This club could learn something from them.

 

[CupHolders]

Laich's comments are unprofessional and unsportsmanlike.

I can never recall a player actually saying what Laich said. Essentially, that a penalty for injuring a player was a good penalty. That injuring Visnovsky in of itself made taking a penalty worth it. I have heard players saying that taking a penalty is worth it to negate an opponent's scoring opportunity. But that play had no direct impact on a goal.

I'm not naive, I know players will target opponents. But the usual thing to say to the press is: just trying to play hard... unfortunate he got hurt... Hope he makes it back etc. etc. Basically, all the stuff Tom Wilson himself has been spewing.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

I personally think everyone is misreading the intention behind what like said. I believe he's basically implying that the Caps don't believe it was a penalty (which a lot of people seem to be on both sides of) and the hit itself was a game altering thing in terms of momentum (which isn't really all that debatable). I mean if you think of it in hockey terms that makes sense, guys look for a big hit/play/fight to rally behind and it can change a game, that moment came from this hit, Caps feel it wasn't a penalty but the change still happened, hence "It was a good penalty to take." No where in that do I get the impression that he is happy Visno is hurt, that they are advocating injury, etc. The result of the penalty and the penalty itself are two different things. Problem is everyone's in hysterics over basically anything because it's the playoffs so a player could sneeze and the other team would call for his head.


Basically narratives going to narrative, I don't think Brooks "Waterford Crystal Glass Man of the Year" Laich is excited anyone is hurt, but if we don't pretend that these teams have blood lust what else will we do with out lives?

 

[TheWhiteWhale30]

That's not the part that dictates it's a charge though. It's leaving your feet to make the hit. Leaving your feet from a follow through is legal, it's simply the result of exploding into the hit/making contact with another force.


Here's Boychuk doing it

Matt Martin

You can literally google any big hitter's hit and you're likely to see them leave the ice on a follow through. It's just physics.

Boychuk did not leave his feet intentionally. Boychuk getting lifted from
Him bracing himself and the impact is what caused him to elevate a bit. MM yeah he left thenIslea a bit but at no point in that hit did he go for the head unlike laich...Piece of **** move. He will now likey retire. Eye for an eye.

 

[BillD]

A very clumsy remark by Laich.

I think he believes, like several Isles Board posters here, that it was a clean hit.
Then he goes on to say how the hit and subsequent takeout of Vis works in a positive way for them. So he is evaluating good results from what he thinks is a clean hit. Very self centered and mercenary, but not as cold blooded as may appear.
But I still want to whack out one of theirs (clean hit of course) and not Fehr. Someone like maybe Backstrom or Carlson. A boy can dream.

No matter, we need to find a way to win 2 games.

LGI

 

[Space Herpe]

The problem is a caps player admits what most observed...the caps as a team discussed that they need to injure islanders defensemen as soon as possible because with Hamonic injured the caps discussed how thin the isles would be if they could injure a top isles defensemen. Im sure they were hoping it would be Boychuck..in the first game they were obviously targeting him. Ive missed half the series since so I don't know if it continued or not

Huh? Where'd you get that? It might be true, but I doubt it. They are playing hard against the Islanders every shift and that includes laying as many guys out as they can. If you hit enough guys hard, a few are going to break. Vis broke. Such is life in the NHL.



I loved our 70's team. Most of them could fight, and throw a check with meaning. This club could learn something from them.

I believe it is being inferred from the idea of
playing with 6 defenders is hard
5 is even harder
and the idea of the penalty was worth it since it resulted in the Isles having to play with 5 defenders.

 

[crasherino]

A very clumsy remark by Laich.

I think he believes, like several Isles Board posters here, that it was a clean hit.
Then he goes on to say how the hit and subsequent takeout of Vis works in a positive way for them. So he is evaluating good results from what he thinks is a clean hit. Very self centered and mercenary, but not as cold blooded as may appear.
But I still want to whack out one of theirs (clean hit of course) and not Fehr. Someone like maybe Backstrom or Carlson. A boy can dream.

No matter, we need to find a way to win 2 games.

LGI

He actually says that it was a "questionable hit". He didn't get the talking points from Trotz and Wilson.

But I think you characterized it very aptly - they were clumsy remarks. On their face, they are pretty damning but from what I hear about the guy (mostly from Cap fans), he's not that type of guy. More likely, in the context of the interview, the verbiage got misused by the interviewers and he ran with it.

From what I understand, he uses "quote/unquote...good penalty" because that's the wording thrown at him. Regardless, as a professional athlete, you need to choose your words carefully because what you say will be re-printed without the benefit of context. And to say that it was a "good penalty because they were down to 5 Dmen" is pretty callous.

 

[scott99]

I really don't care what Laich has to say. I used to respect the guy but this is ridiculous.

I think Wilson woke the bear with that hit. Viz didn't have possession of the puck at any point so that in and of itself makes it dirty. Ovechkin, Backstrom and Laich are going to feel the butt hurt after this one.

Isles can play a very physical nasty game as a unit. They haven't really done that since earlier this season. People seem so focused on size this series but the Isles have some guys that can flatten people. Would like to see Zeeker, Lee, Nelson, Okposo, Clutter, Martin and Boychuck play with a little more bite.

I'd also like to see those guys really start to drive the net and give Holtby hell.

We take this series in six. We are winning the next two.

Isles won't do squat.The 2013 team was a lot more physical. I remember EVERYONE hitting the Penguins in that series. Hell, even Brad Boyes and Michael Grabner were throwing hits in that series. Only the 4th line and Kulemin are physical on this team.

 

[Tpkc2]

When your pp is useless, it's easy for the other team to take liberties! Broken sticks and a useless pp has this series tied, it should have ended Tuesday night! I hate making excuses, but this series is unreal! Team manager should go out and buy a couple dozen of koho sticks! Wtf???

 

[Abe Vukota]

I believe it is being inferred from the idea of
playing with 6 defenders is hard
5 is even harder
and the idea of the penalty was worth it since it resulted in the Isles having to play with 5 defenders.

This is far too logical for anyone to agree with.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

This is far too logical for anyone to agree with.

Yes. Can we please get back the posts where we plead to dress a goon to "take someone out" and intentionally get suspended?

 

[Flair19Woo]

yeah Laich flunked media training 101. Who says what they really were thinking nowadays? IMHO it was an illegal charge and very unfortunate.

 

[doublechili]

I personally think everyone is misreading the intention behind what like said. I believe he's basically implying that the Caps don't believe it was a penalty (which a lot of people seem to be on both sides of) and the hit itself was a game altering thing in terms of momentum (which isn't really all that debatable). I mean if you think of it in hockey terms that makes sense, guys look for a big hit/play/fight to rally behind and it can change a game, that moment came from this hit, Caps feel it wasn't a penalty but the change still happened, hence "It was a good penalty to take." No where in that do I get the impression that he is happy Visno is hurt, that they are advocating injury, etc. The result of the penalty and the penalty itself are two different things. Problem is everyone's in hysterics over basically anything because it's the playoffs so a player could sneeze and the other team would call for his head.


Basically narratives going to narrative, I don't think Brooks "Waterford Crystal Glass Man of the Year" Laich is excited anyone is hurt, but if we don't pretend that these teams have blood lust what else will we do with out lives?

No. He wasn't implying a momentum change. He wasn't implying anything. He SAID it was a good penalty to take because it left the Isles with only 5 defensemen the rest of the game as a result of Vis's injury, and it's harder to play with 5 than with 6 especially in a game that goes to OT.

I've never heard/seen a player use the "good penalty to take" language in a case where the benefit to his team was a player on the other team getting injured and being unavailable. I've only ever heard that used in cases where a player prevented a breakaway/scoring chance. Or perhaps if they traded fighting/roughing penalties with a better player on the opposition. Never for an injury. That's the problem here.

If an Isles player decides to employ the same reasoning and goes out and flattens Backstrom, and says it was a good penalty to take because the Caps would be short a forward who happens to be a great player, would you still be viewing that as a "momentum change"?

It was at best a stupid/classless thing to say. Hopefully it wasn't strategy....

 

[WangMustGo]

Isles won't do squat.The 2013 team was a lot more physical. I remember EVERYONE hitting the Penguins in that series. Hell, even Brad Boyes and Michael Grabner were throwing hits in that series. Only the 4th line and Kulemin are physical on this team.

This team would absolutely demolish the 2013 islanders. Lets not forget we are playing the biggest team in the league, and holding there own thus far.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

No. He wasn't implying a momentum change. He wasn't implying anything. He SAID it was a good penalty to take because it left the Isles with only 5 defensemen the rest of the game as a result of Vis's injury, and it's harder to play with 5 than with 6 especially in a game that goes to OT.

I've never heard/seen a player use the "good penalty to take" language in a case where the benefit to his team was a player on the other team getting injured and being unavailable. I've only ever heard that used in cases where a player prevented a breakaway/scoring chance. Or perhaps if they traded fighting/roughing penalties with a better player on the opposition. Never for an injury. That's the problem here.

If an Isles player decides to employ the same reasoning and goes out and flattens Backstrom, and says it was a good penalty to take because the Caps would be short a forward who happens to be a great player, would you still be viewing that as a "momentum change"?

It was at best a stupid/classless thing to say. Hopefully it wasn't strategy....

He did say "quote unquote a good penalty."

 

[Abe Vukota]

Yes. Can we please get back the posts where we plead to dress a goon to "take someone out" and intentionally get suspended?

Yes, more about dressing and potentially arming Boulton and Carkner with RPGs, just in case Tom Wilson starts eating baby hearts or something.

And could someone please tell me I never played the game if I don't want to see players injured? Thanks in advance.

 

[Abe Vukota]

He did say "quote unquote a good penalty."

He's also 100% right. I would call it a GREAT penalty to throw a big game-changing hit that knocks a fragile defensemen out of an already thin D pair rotation.

Moar controversy though.

 

[peter021]

This just in: sports fans react illogically!

I get the anger and frustration, but wanting the team to suddenly abandon its style of play to exact some revenge on Wilson, Backstrom or Ovechkin is counterproductive. The best revenge will be showing the Caps a first round exit.

The Isles have outhit the Caps the past two games, maybe three. Yep, most of that has come from the fourth line, but even though the D has been targeted, this team is not getting pushed around all over the ice. They will beat the Caps with speed and transition, just as they've done all season. They just need more urgency driving to the net. Trying to go after Caps players is going to lead to penalties and that will lead to PP goals against. No thank you.

Inserting Boulton in the lineup IMO just messes up your fourth line, which has been the most effective this series. There are a number of guys who have been invisible (paging Frans) in this series that Grabovski can take the place of tonight.

This team needs to get bodies in front on the PP and at even strength. One goal isn't going to cut it. It's time to get to work!

 

[islesfan186]

jesus guy have some faith.

The series is over for Viz. How many concussions has he had this season....2, 3? He didn't come back to the game, he's done for the series, and potentially his career

 

[BroadwayJay*]

yes, more about dressing and potentially arming boulton and carkner with rpgs, just in case tom wilson starts eating baby hearts or something.

And could someone please tell me i never played the game if i don't want to see players injured? Thanks in advance.

how about you play the game nerd