In Pittsburgh, there was an incident in the second period between Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Blue Jackets alternate captain Brandon Dubinsky.
During the incident, Dubinsky and Crosby were in front of the Penguins goalie. Dubinsky was playing the man and was trying to create space for himself to score a goal, and Crosby was putting pressure on him.
Dubinsky ended up cross-checking Crosby in the back of the net, which resulted in Crosby spilling onto the ice. Once down, Dubinsky cross-checked him again, and his stick broke
On Saturday afternoon, Dubinsky was suspended one game for his incident last night, being the first Jacket player to be suspended this season. That game he missed was one against the St. Louis Blues, on Saturday night.
In that game, the Jackets lost 3-1 and Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella had some fighting words for his team. "Pittsburgh can whine. Pittsburgh whines enough for the whole league." These bold words show a bit of the brewing rivalry between Columbus and Pittsburgh. Let's see how this young rivalry intensifies over the next few years.
Personally, his suspension brings up some questions for this team and the league.
First, why doesn't Crosby get punished? His post-game comments were an embarrassment towards the Jackets organization and the league.
Dubinsky is no reckless player, but if this incident were to occur again, what would happen? A couple more games?
Also, should there be a standard set of games suspended for cross-checking?
What are your thoughts? More to come...