Just 21 seconds into the second period of tonight’s game between the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, Blueshirts winger Chris Kreider hit an unsuspecting Fedor Tyutin.  

The Columbus defenseman crashed awkwardly into the boards. Tyutin was slow to get up and needed to be helped off the ice. He attempted to come back out, but skated just twelve seconds before heading to the locker room.

Kreider was given five minutes for boarding and a game misconduct by veteran referee Dan O’Rourke.  (No argument on the call based on the way it looked in real-time.)

Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards had very little to share on the severity of Tyutin’s injury:

“I don’t know exactly [Tyutin’s status] yet. We’ll find out more tomorrow,” Richards said. “My understanding is it’s more of a charley horse than anything else.”

Reportedly, Tyutin was experiencing some discomfort prior to the hit.  His leaving the ice may have had more to do with his lower body injury than with the hit itself.  That bodes well for Kreider’s case as far as a possible suspension.

I don’t expect any supplementary discipline on this play.  It was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit.   Tyutin was unaware of the impending check and was not braced for impact.  That, along with Tyutin’s positioning relative to the boards, put him in an awkward spot that resulted in a potentially dangerous play.

Hopefully, there’s no injury to Tyutin.   It also looks like there shouldn’t be any additional repercussions for the Rangers’ forward.