He should get suspended.

And only calling a 2 minute tripping for that? wtf? it was kneeing or intent to injure…he should have gotten a major and a game misconduct.

I’m personally sick of ovechkin throwing out his cheap hits. He is just a little prick. He should receive at least 1 or 2 games for that…

With that injury you gotta feel bad for Gonch especially after missing about the first 3 quarters of the season. Hope its not serious

Posted by JJ from PA on 05/08/09 at 07:42 PM ET

Dirty ass play.

Of course nothing will come of it, he is the best player to ever play the game…. ever!

Posted by Gretzky_to_Lemieux on 05/08/09 at 07:52 PM ET

JJ:  Cheap is a cross-check to the throat.  This was unfortunate, but not intentional or cheap.  Ovechkin was going for a big check, but not a dirty one.  However I can understand thinking it was intentional if you are watching the FSN Pittsburgh feed, which I’m guessing you are since you’re from PA.

I completely agree that it sucks really badly the way it turned out for Gonchar, and I very much hope that he is back to health ASAP.

Posted by GregAnnapolis on 05/08/09 at 07:58 PM ET

I believe it was intentional because he clearly went out of his way let alone to go hit him and then he widened his stance and stuck the knee out.

Posted by JJ from PA on 05/08/09 at 08:07 PM ET

Not very clean, but not super dirty either. From that replay, it looks like Ovechkin is sort of leading with his knee, but he didn’t really stick it out into Gonchar’s path. I don’t want to blame the victim here, but if Gonchar stands up straight, or goes to his right after the puck, I don’t think we’d be talking about this.

Posted by shep on 05/08/09 at 08:11 PM ET

I’m not so sure he stuck his knee out. To me he looks like he’s trying to hit him in the chest with his shoulder. If anything…Ovie just didn’t move out of the way. To call for a suspension on that is just ludicrous.

Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 05/08/09 at 09:03 PM ET

Of course he widened his stance!  That’s how you skate, man.  Gonchar went the wrong way and so did Ovechkin.  Just because you’re penguins fans doesn’t mean you can’t be rational about it.  I bet anything that if Crosby had “done” something like this, you be declaring him innocent.  It was a freakin’ accident.  That’s life…stuff happens.

Posted by Matt Fry from Winnipeg on 05/08/09 at 09:07 PM ET

Re-posting this from the A2Y thread:

I watched both games, and saw many replays of the Malkin/Gochar collision.

Unless you are peering thru your Malkin Hater glasses, you can see nothing will come of it.

Malkin was trying to shoulder check him, and he had his leg extended trying to push away from the check.

And

Besides

It is not like Malkin called a press conference,
to trash talk on Gonchar’s girlfriend.

Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 05/08/09 at 09:29 PM ET

The Gutless TURD Ovechkin does this shit all the Time takes 4 or 5 strides & tries to crush someone on a Charge or if the guy tries to get out of the Way like Gonch did He will take your knee out, When he finally Paralyzes someone or kills them This Garage League will then FINALLY do something

If you’rre expecting him to be suspended don’t hold your breath, Pierre(JIZZ KING) McGuire will talk about what a Passionette play it was

Posted by Evilpens on 05/08/09 at 09:42 PM ET

NHL wouldnt have the balls to suspend AO. he’ll get a fine. typical sneaky russian move. just like malkins swuft kicking

there’s too much is at stake to sell whatever is left of this league to get away coverage on national tv

Posted by FlyersFan on 05/08/09 at 10:20 PM ET

I watched both games, and saw many replays of the Malkin/Gochar collision.

Unless you are peering thru your Malkin Hater glasses, you can see nothing will come of it.

Malkin was trying to shoulder check him, and he had his leg extended trying to push away from the check.

And

Besides

It is not like Malkin called a press conference,
to trash talk on Gonchar’s girlfriend.

wooooowwwww. at least get the names right! It was definitely not Malkin checking his own teammate! It was Ovechkin…

And whoever said if it was Crosby Pens fans would be declaring it accidental is severly wrong. I’m a huge Pens fan and I can tell you this for sure, I would put the blame on Crosby if it was him, not Ovechkin. That was a clearly dirty play, and it really does not surprise me because I’ve noticed Ovechkin takes so many cheap shots its not even funny.

Anyway, at the end of the day, a dirty play is a dirty play and while I don’t completely agree with the punishment of suspention, I do believe it would have been adequate to slap him with a major and a game misconduct. I’m not saying you have to agree with me, but that is just my personal oppinion. Look back at previous playoff games where there were blatant injuries to opposing teams and dare to tell me there wasn’t at least a major and a misconduct… most of them you will find came strapped with full series suspentions.

Posted by danielle from texas on 05/08/09 at 10:25 PM ET

HE LED WITH HIS SHOULDER, end of discussion. Gonchar spun out of the way and put BOTH of them in a dangerous situation, making it 50/50 as to who would be laying on the ice, gonchar was the unluvky one but it could have just as easily been ovechkin.  Either way, gonchar would be and IS to blame, as unfortunate as it is.

Posted by win from now on 05/08/09 at 10:40 PM ET

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!  This is just one more incident, in a long line of them, in a relatively short career.  What is most enranging about Ovechkin’s behavior is his taking a run at somebody, then skating even faster to make to the bench, and then mocking the player in the security of his bench.  Hockey (the NHL) is very good at policing its own.  It’s just a matter of time before Ovechkin takes a severe cheap shot of his own.  It will probably happen in the regular season, because no team is going to run the risk of serious penalties/suspension in the playoffs, but it will happen.  I would like to see somebody just grab him right off a faceoff and teach him some respect.  My guess is Alex will use his stick in such a situation as I just described.  His number has been taken around the league, and one way or another, his time is coming.

Posted by Pens Fan in DC on 05/08/09 at 10:59 PM ET

Intent to knee or not, it was a careless check.

Posted by bcrt on 05/09/09 at 12:19 AM ET

Although it may or may not have been a dirty, it sure was reckless. It looked like to me that AO was getting ready to nail Gonchar with a jump off your skates charge when Gonchar tried to move out of the way.

Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 05/09/09 at 12:21 AM ET

I’d call it just an unfortunate play. Gonchar took a risk with the chip and deke attempt, and failed. I wouldn’t suspend OV for it, but the penalty was deserved. Sometimes people get hurt without intent.

Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 05/09/09 at 01:04 AM ET

like Ovechkin needs to hit a guy dirty he can destroy with a normal hit. he admitted it was dirty and an accident. whatever.

where was crosby;s suspension for hitting a man in the balls? he didnt even get a f-ing penalty for that specific event with an official right there about to pull him off.

NBA or NHL, whatever

Posted by Death Metal Nightmare from MKE on 05/09/09 at 05:20 AM ET

It’s not even remotely a dirty hit.

Come on, Pens fans.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 05/09/09 at 08:08 AM ET

What the hell was wrong with that??

Oh, wait, he’s not Canadian, so he must be dirty.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 05/09/09 at 08:12 AM ET

Ovechkin is a slimeball! Definately a dirty hit. He clearly sees Gonchar in his pereforal vision and sticks out his knee if you watch it in slow motion (very deliberate)!!!! The nhl won’t suspend him do to the financial conotations.

Anyone see his self serving peice on how he is a ‘rebel’ and drives fast cars? What a fake joker!

Suspend Ovechkin for as long as Gonchar is out!!!!!

Posted by Dexter Ruteki (Avs Fan) from Colorado on 05/09/09 at 09:16 AM ET

Gonchar got around Ovechkin and the latter wanted to get any piece of him at all. The only thing in range was his leg. Knee is intentional in that sense, but as a reaction, not as a premeditated event.

Same could be said about many of Bryan Marchment’s incidents though…

If Ovechkin was Steckel, he’d be getting 5 games

Posted by steve on 05/09/09 at 10:12 AM ET

You guys have lost your minds.  If Gonchar stays where he is, he gets lit up by Ovechkin’s shoulder.  So, he tries to hop to his left to get out of the way and gets spun around.

There’s no way Ovechkin can know whether he’ll hop right, left, or even see him at all before Ovechkin crushes him.

Ovechkin’s leg doesn’t come out at all.  Not even a little bit.

Believe me, the Pens will get plenty of other benefit of the doubt calls without having to completely gin up a suspension for this.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 05/09/09 at 11:13 AM ET

And just a couple short months ago…

Atlanta fans: Matt Cooke is dirty! He hit Zach Bogosian knee-on-knee!
Pittsburgh fans: Bogosian tried to avoid the hit! His own fault! How can you call Cooke dirty?
Atlanta: Cooke led with his knee and tried to get any piece of him he could!
Pittsburgh: That’s simply how you skate!
Atlanta: ...

Hey, I didn’t have much to say about that hit in question (I recall agreeing with Malik’s take on the hit), but it looks similar to this hit. I’d just chalk it up to karma and move on. Cooke, if you recall, also received a mere two minute penalty for tripping. Consistency in officiating. Cooke also never got suspended for that hit.. Therefore, I’m not expecting Ovechkin to, either. However, suspending a superstar for a hit like this might go to show the rest of the league that if someone like Ovechkin can get suspended for knee hits, anyone can, so be careful.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 05/09/09 at 11:23 AM ET

Anyone who ever played the game and who watches the hit will have no doubt whatsoever that the Gonchar hit was flat out intentional and ought to get that hare-lipped goon Ovechkin a loooong suspension.

Posted by Zendozone from Vancouver on 05/11/09 at 10:39 AM ET