Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bryan Rust has been suspended three games for an illegal check to the head of Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser.
Rust delivered a high, hard hit in the closing seconds of Sunday’s game in Vancouver. Boeser attempted to make a play on a loose puck in the goal crease. Rust skated in from the slot and caught the Canucks forward with a shoulder to the helmet.
The horn sounded to end the game – a 3-2 Penguins win – with Rust assessed a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head by referees Garrett Rank and Carter Sandlak.
From the NHL’s Department of Player Safety:
As the video shows, during a netfront scramble at the Penguins goal, Boeser looks to collect the puck as Rust skates in from the slot. As Boeser finds the puck and attempts to play it towards the net, Rust loads up and delivers a high hard check that misses Boeser’s core, picking his head and making it the main point of contact on a check where such head contact was avoidable. This is an illegal check to the head.
It is important to note that both elements of the illegal check to the head rule are satisfied on this play.
First, the head is the main point of contact, as Rust’s shoulder and arm make direct contact with Boeser’s head and it is a head that absorbs the majority of the force.
Second, the head contact on this play is avoidable. Rust takes a poor angle of approach, choosing an angle that causes him to cut across the front of Boeser’s body, missing his core. Rust then raises his arm and leans into contact, causing direct contact with Boeser’s head with requisite force for supplemental discipline.
If Rust wants to deliver this check, he must stay low and take an angle that hits through the shoulder and core rather than one that makes the head the main point of contact.
I think three games is a lot. I don’t agree with it. As an organization, we don’t agree with it.They have a tough job, in the league, in terms of looking at these things. Bryan Rust is a guy where you know what you’re going to get from him every night. He’s a guy that works his (butt) off every day. He’s a guy that’s heart and soul. One thing he’s not is a dirty player. He’s going to do everything he can to help the team win. I mean, I’ve coached against this guy. He’s been in the league for 12 years, like, 750-plus games. You see his track record. He’s a guy who works, but he also plays the game the right way, and he plays it clean. And so, based on that track record, based on the player, who he is, what he’s shown for a very long time in this league – yeah, I disagree with it.And again, the league’s got a tough job. But in terms of the play, it’s the end of the game. He’s doing everything he can to just get back to the netfront and not allow another shot on net in the closing seconds. Kind of the way he comes in there, he’s trying to get on the defensive side. When you look at the video, too, there’s a lot of things happening there. And so, there’s the visual of it that you see, but there’s also, I think, the intent and how all those things unfolded. But, now it’s going to be an
opportunity for guys to step up in his absence while he’s out. Obviously, Rusty is a guy who plays just about every role you can imagine on this hockey team, and does it very well. And so now, it’s going to be an opportunity for other guys there to come in and to get an opportunity to fill that hole while he’s gone.
