If that hit were delivered by anyone other than Miles Wood, I might be singing a very different tune in regards to how many unpaid games off it was deserving of. I say that not only because this is the first time he's drawn the ire of the Department of Player Safety, but also because the endless ball of energy that the Devils' roster as a middle-6 winger is basically the NHL equivalent of a golden retriever that just heard the front door to a house with newly polished hardwood floors crack open. If his biggest assets are his speed and physicality then his biggest liabilities are his inability to harness that speed and physicality. Having the instincts of an excitable labrador doesn't allow for him to be held less accountable when he torpedoes himself into the numbers of a defenseless opponent who somewhat miraculously peeled himself off the ice to continue playing. However, I can say with relative confidence - and I admit this will sound stupid to those unfamiliar with his game - that Miles Wood didn't have evil intentions when he tried to put a vulnerable player through the boards before splitting open the face of the teammate that came to the defense of his victim. Miles Wood has a tendency to forget how big, fast, and strong he is. That absent-mindedness was probably as guilty for what was undeniably an incredibly ugly display as anything else. So, in sticking with what I find to be an incredibly fitting analogy, a two-game suspension that gives him time to absorb the teachings of obedience school should prove as effective as a rolled up newspaper to the snout. As is usually the case in these situations, you could definitely argue that it was deserving of more, but - keeping in mind that Namestnikov got up fairly unscathed - I'd argue that a couple games for something that was mostly the result of him thinking less was pretty fair. ---- Also, huge shoutout to the consistent inconsistency of NHL officiating. In no world should that sequence have been deemed punishable by anything less than a 5 minute major and a game misconduct that would have served as a death blow against a team as dynamic as Tampa Bay. Instead, both the hit and the botched facial reconstructive surgery that followed left the Devils shorthanded for no more than two minutes... ...and allowed for Miles Wood to come back and redeem his abject stupidity with a game-winning goal...
The Lightning should definitely feel as though they are owed an apology after the way in which the game played out, but - as the Devils have learned far, far too many times this season - it's not their job to offer it up...
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