Jere Lehtinen Finishes Hit On Daniel Alfredsson

Jere Lehtinen followed through with a check on Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson during a second period Senator power play that ended the game for the Gothenburg, Sweden native.   The hit was not intentionally aggressive.  It was simply the level of play one would expect in a physical NHL game.  Despite the profanities mouthed by Ottawa head coach Craig Hartsburg, the near side NHL linesman immediately waived off any notion of a boarding call as play continued.  After the puck was cleared; however, play was stopped to allow Ottawa’s trainer to tend to an Alfredsson who was struggling to pull himself up off the ice.

Dallas Stars forward Jere Lehtinen has only logged 194 career penalty minutes.  More importantly, the Dallas Stars forward has yet to log a single penalty minute during the 2008-09 season.  He is not an overly physical player nor is he known for putting game ending hits on opposing players.  So why did the simple act of finishing a hit draw such disbelief from Ottawa head coach Craig Hartsburg?  No one wants to see an injury take place during a game.  But just because a player is shaken up as a result of a completed check, does that mean there has to be an insinuation of foul play?  It shouldn’t as players like Jere Lehtinen are simply trying to contribute to their team by playing an energetic role when the game calls for it.

The Ottawa Senators emerged from tonight’s game victorious in a 5-4 overtime win.  Unfortunately, Daniel Alfredsson did not return to the game due to an upper body injury suffered from the hit.