What’s with that lame little girly hop by Burrows?  How embarassing.

Posted by Ninja on 12/10/08 at 09:50 AM ET

I give him a game for leaving his feet and 3 games for turtling and not standing up and taking it like a man.

Posted by w2j2 on 12/10/08 at 09:55 AM ET

Left his feet and hit high.  Elbow wasn’t extended, but did hit around neck and head. 

Even if it isn’t technically a penalty because the arm is in on the body, it should be made a penalty when the hit only lands high.  And it is a penalty by virtue of leaving his feet.

Posted by skooteri from Raleigh, NC on 12/10/08 at 09:56 AM ET

Can’t believe they didn’t call that one. He visibly left his feet and no doubt it was a head hit - deserves a suspension…

Posted by Leslie on 12/10/08 at 10:06 AM ET

Good footage starts at 1:20.

Reminds me of this Milan Lucic hit on Mike Van Ryn. In that case, the same level of conclusiveness needed to overturn a ref on a goal is not found when checking whether Lucic left the ice (though I thought he did a few feet before contact), and indeed the solely top body focus of his hit helped lead to Van Ryn going through the glass.

Burrows definitely leaves the ice, but from what I can tell, he does it as he’s going through Dumont, not before, and their opposite direction of travel causes his large spin.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 12/10/08 at 10:27 AM ET

I’d probably call it charging (tough to tell exactly when he left his feet) , but didnt look like a headshot to me. A high hit sure, but from the camera in the corner it looked like it was arms to high shoulder, not head.

Not worthy of any extra punishment.

Posted by Nate A from Dark side of the moon on 12/10/08 at 11:07 AM ET

Not a question, he not only left his feet, he did so blatantly.

One or two games.

Posted by Primis on 12/10/08 at 11:16 AM ET

I agree with the hobo on this one.  He didn’t appear to be leaving his feet to make the hit and to say he was gunning for his head is putting yourself out on a limb.

Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 12/10/08 at 11:27 AM ET

Burrows is coasting with both feet planted on the ice, he’s not taking a run at anybody.  He’ s moving in to cover two players, when Dumont is distracted by a puck which stands him up.  Burrows almost looks like he reacts last second and leaves his feet to keep his balance as he bounces to the side of Dumont.  This is not leaving your feet to drive up and into another player.
Just because Dumont went down and Burrows stayed up by keeping himself in balance doesn’t mean its charging or a head shot.

Posted by entwonder on 12/10/08 at 11:33 AM ET

He glided in, so it wasn’t charging. But if the NHL wants to get rid of head shots, they need to start throwing out 1 game suspensions for anything that is kind of sort of might be a headshot. If its a BLATANT headshot, give em a couple games. And if its a “oh my god” kind of headshot, put him out for 5 or 6.

The only way to stop it is to start passing out suspensions like Brooks Orpik hands out free candy.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/10/08 at 11:46 AM ET

NHL Rule 43.1 on Charging:

43.1 Charging - A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player or
goalkeeper who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any
manner.

While I don’t think it should be a suspension, it most definitely was a charge when he jumped at Dumont.  The refs missed it and so it goes.  Not suspension worthy, though.

Posted by clemshady from Greenwood, SC on 12/10/08 at 12:12 PM ET

He deserves at least a fine for that

Posted by BZ on 12/10/08 at 01:14 PM ET

What about the Markov knee on Phaneuf?

Posted by Ross on 12/10/08 at 01:37 PM ET

Tootoo leaves his feet all the time but you don’t hear the Predator fans complaining about that ......  If they discipline Burrows for leaving his feet, then start nailing Foo-Foo when he does all his garbage....

Posted by Yzerman19 from Nashville on 12/10/08 at 02:13 PM ET

@Yzerman19,
Kronwall also leaves his feet all the time, but you don’t hear the Wings fans complaining about that.....

Why cant people just hit clean? Like this for example.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/10/08 at 02:53 PM ET

The point is there are a ton of players who do it, its not about “nailing” one of them or the other. The league just needs to start “nailing” someone for it. You gotta start somewhere, why not here.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/10/08 at 02:54 PM ET

Nailing players for hits that aren’t illegal or dirty isn’t the way to go about business.

This, of course, means the NHL will pursue this way of doing things.

Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 12/10/08 at 03:16 PM ET

The part I like is Dumont beating the hell out of him afterward.  Too often the cheap shot artist does his deed, gets protected by the linesmen when someone comes to beat him, then a little later the two heavyweights fight each other in a completely unrelated way. To allow the players to police themselves, let guys that do that sh*t defend themselves afterward.

Posted by dip from Philly on 12/10/08 at 03:19 PM ET