Photo credit: Dennis Schneider — USA TODAY Sports

The 1st round of the NHL playoffs has begun and the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals are paired off.

During the 2nd game between the two Metropolitan Division teams, Artemi Panarin ran at TJ Oshie like a freight train and leveled him.

The hit looked like it was performed by the Capitals’ own, Tom Wilson with how brutal the hit was.

Panarin would finish the check, dirty as he finished leading into Oshie’s head as he went into it with his should and back. Oshie would fall to the ice which would lead to a confrontation between Connor McMichael and Artemi Panarin.

After a review, Panarin managed to escape a major penalty and received two minutes for roughing, while Oshie was pulled for concussion protocols.

“They said it wasn’t a minor penalty was the only explanation I got. I asked a few follow-up questions with regards to leaving feet, point of contact, and the one thing that’s tricky is the spotter removes him,” Carbery told reporters following the loss. “We watch a video at the beginning of the year of what they’re looking for for concussion symptoms or a hit and who needs to be removed. To me, when the spotter removes him, there has to be some kind of contact with the head. So that’s where I was a little bit confused on him being removed by the spotters and then no minor penalty on the ice.”

Center Dylan Strome also agreed that there was contact with Oshie’s head from Panarin’s check.
“I mean, I saw it live. I feel like when you see a guy’s head snap back kind of from the side — Obviously Panarin, I don’t think is a dirty player by any means, but you know, I don’t know, I don’t see how they review it and then — it looked like to us like he got hit in the head. I don’t know. It looked like the shoulder in the head, the concussion spotters call Oshie out and he has to go off the ice, so we lose him for 10 minutes, whatever it was and we get the only penalty on the play,” Strome said. “I don’t know; I feel like they obviously watched the replay, so clearly they thought it wasn’t penalty-worthy. Maybe it was a penalty and maybe it couldn’t be a five because that’s what they were reviewing for, but those are calls that sometimes go your way and sometimes don’t. I’m not sure if the league will take a look at it. I feel like the refs did, so it’s in the past now. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way; we got a penalty and we killed it. Hopefully, Oshie’s okay, and then we move on.”
With the NHL Rulebook 48.1 considering an illegal check to the head, there are three ways to assess the penalty:

(i)Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not “picked” as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.

(ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.

(iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
The officials utilized the rulebook to the best of their abilities(even as I type this, it’s debatable) since Oshie’s head was not Panarin’s intended point of contact, he escaped a major penalty.

Wilson however, took exception to how Panarin went into the check, considering how Oshie was in a vulnerable position prior to the check, with his head down.
“I didn’t see it. I saw the very tail end of it live. It’s one of those things that looks like he’s going after him a little bit. Osh is in a vulnerable spot and he gets him high. I don’t know if he gets him in the head; I haven’t watched it,” Wilson said. “It’s one of those things where everybody stands up, you know, he definitely went after him. So that’s playoff hockey and you’re gonna get hit, you’re gonna give his. I think Osh is okay, so that’s the main thing.”