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This was the week for reckless hits in the NHL. Besides Patrick Kaleta's hit on Jack Johnson, two players had to be removed from the ice on stretchers.
Max Lapierre, well-schooled in Vancouver as a super pest and motor mouth, now plays in St. Louis and crushed San Jose's Dan Boyle from behind.
"Things like that happen, especially when idiots are idiots," Sharks forward Joe Pavelski said.
Added San Jose's Logan Couture: "After the first shift, he's yelling at us from their bench that he's coming after us, and then he does that. It's pretty gutless.
"Then he turtles. Be a man if you hit like that. Don't turtle and run behind the linesman."
On Thursday, Colorado's Cody McLeod nailed Detroit's Niklas Kronwall with a similar hit. He faces a long suspension, something he should have gotten in 2011 when the NHL let him off the hook for doing the same thing to Jared Spurgeon.
Age-old debate
Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis nearly missed Thursday's game against the Wild because he took a Drew Doughty shot off the foot, triggering the age-old debate whether stars should play on the penalty kill.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper noted how Ryan Malone scored a goal off his foot in the same game against the Kings.
