PITTSBURGH — Marcus Johansson was evaluated for a concussion and said he is experiencing pain in his neck after an open-ice hit by Kris Letang that he and several of his Washington Capitals teammates insisted should earn a suspension.
Johansson was carrying the puck into the offensive zone between Evgeni Malkin and Eric Fehr at 15:36 of the first period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 victory in Game 3 on Monday when he was hit by Letang.
The Penguins’ defenseman appeared to hit Johansson in the head and neck with his left shoulder, and the impact of the hit carried Letang up off his feet. Johansson had passed the puck to Justin Williams shortly before he was hit, and though he was taken in for evaluations, he was able to return to the game at the start of the second period.
“I didn’t see him coming,” Johansson said. “He came from the blind side. I just looked at it. He obviously leaves his feet and hits me in the head. I mean, that’s — I guess that’s the kind of plays you want out of the league. Yeah. It doesn’t look good.”
Johansson’s phrasing nearly echoed word-for-word what Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said two days earlier regarding Brooks Orpik’s hit on Olli Maatta in Game 2 of the series on Saturday.
Orpik was suspended for three games on Sunday for that hit, and Johansson and others drew a clear equation between Orpik’s discipline and what they would like to see handed to Letang at some point in the coming days.
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“Hit in the head, left his feet,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “Brooks Orpik got three games? We’ll see what this is.”
Letang said after the game that he did not aim to hit Johansson high and that he was merely trying to prevent him from continuing to the net.
“I saw him coming full speed,” Letang said. “I tried to step up in the middle, but things happen real fast. … It was just a step up to hit him, but no intention.”
Sullivan said the play “was a body check” but declined to elaborate further. Trotz said he did not know if the suspension handed to Orpik would set a standard by which any supplemental discipline handed to Letang would be measured.
“Two things stick out for me,” Trotz said. “Jojo one-hands the puck. It’s already almost on the outside lane, and then the reroute by Letang and then where he hits him. He’s vulnerable. We’ll let the league handle it. I’ll just get myself in trouble if I say anything more.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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