I’m not going to hold my breath when it comes to a potential suspension for James Neal or Arron Asham. It’s become clear that Brendan Shanahan has a set a clearly broken precedent: No injury, no suspension, regardless of reckless intent.
Brayden Schenn wasn’t injured by Asham on Sunday, and it doesn’t appear that Claude Giroux or Sean Couturier were seriously injured by Neal either. I wouldn’t suspect much discipline will come down from the league, thus creating the chance that Game 4 spirals into chaos yet again as the Flyers try to make Neal answer for his head-hunting.
Then again, there’s this news:
Pittsburgh forward James Neal will have hearings on Tuesday with the Department of Player Safety for two separate incidents in Sunday’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series against thePhiladelphia Flyers.
Also, Pittsburgh forward Arron Asham has been offered an in-person hearing Tuesday morning for his match penalty for cross-checking Brayden Schenn at 14:15 of the first period.
We’ll find out tomorrow, then. Also, it doesn’t look like Craig Adams will face any discipline for being the third-man in on Sidney Crosby’s mugging of Scott Hartnell. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that call. Here’s a question, though: Would you rather see suspensions, or would you rather see somebody go after these guys in Game 4?
