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Lowry Has A Hearing For Kaleta Hit

November 26, 2014, 5:42 PM ET [30 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated:

Winnipeg Jets forward Adam Lowry will have a hearing for his gratuitous, dangerous boarding of Pat Kaleta in last night's 2-1 Jets win in Buffalo.

Lowry is a rookie and has a clean rap sheet with no priors. This will be a great teaching moment for Stephane Quintal to slap the youngster with a 2-3 game suspension to make him think twice about boarding opponents in the future.








Wednesday night's game was Kaleta's first time playing in front of his hometown fans in fourteen months. He was ejected from and suspended from the October 10, 2013 game vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets for boarding Jack Johnson.

It took Kaleta 14 months to find his way home after he was waived through to AHL Rochester last October by then GM Darcy Regier. Kaleta suffered a season ending ACL injury when he was involved in a collision during an Amerks game in November 2013.

Kaleta's road to recovery was derailed by a slap shot to the face in Toronto on September 28. He required surgery to repair facial fractures and was just cleared to play last week.

Then, the Lowry punk play happened.

Pat Kaleta takes the road less traveled for the love of his hometown and hockey.









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Dallas Stars forward Ryan Garbutt will also have his hearing this afternoon with the Department of Player Safety after his kneeing incident with Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall in a game Tuesday night in Dallas.

Garbutt was assessed a two-minute penalty for tripping Hall near center ice. Hall remained in the game.


The following grounds are being considered for supplemental discipline: kneeing. However, the Department of Player Safety retains the right to make adjustments to the infraction upon review




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Thanks, Sabres.com



After the 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Pat Kaleta told me that he is okay after being plowed from behind by rookie Adam Lowry.

Kaleta told me that he took stitches to his lip and that he could nit feel his teeth. He said that he did not lose teeth, however, he could not feel them as his face was numb.

Kaleta would go on to say that he was going to have his jaw and face examined to determine if there was any further damage.

"My face is a long way from my heart", Kaleta said.

I was in the Paul Maurice scrum and the Jets coach said that he is okay with the 5 and game penalty that Lowry earned after crushing Kaleta from behind.



Maurice said that he didn't feel that his player deserves supplemental discipline. Of course not, Paul. The guy works for you.

I feel strongly that Lowry has earned himself a 2-3 game suspension for pasting Pat Kaleta from behind causing injury.



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Before Wednesday night, the last time that Patrick Kaleta skated in a game for his Buffalo Sabres was on October 10, 2013.

On that night, Kaleta hit Columbus Blue Jackets D-man Jack Johnson from behind. That hit would lead to his 10 game suspension and subsequent waiver from his hometown Sabres to AHL Rochester. To make matters worse, Kaleta would blow out his ACL and end his season in late November 2013 while he was busting his ass to earn a promotion back to Buffalo. His assignment to Rochester was to allow him to work on toning down the aggression in his game. PK36 plays the game at a high rate of speed and can get wreckless at times. He was on his way to curbing his enthusiasm when his season ended abruptly.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Fourteen months after his exile from his home barn, the Angola kid came home for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Ironically, he was cut down by a brutal hit from behind that resulted in a 5 minute boarding major and game misconduct for Winnipeg Jets rookie Adam Lowry.





Kaleta was injured on the play and went directly to the Buffalo room. He later played in the game. He broke bones in his face while blocking a Morgan Rielly slap shot with his face on September 28 in Toronto. Kaleta just returned to the Buffalo lineup last week after undergoing a lengthy rehab period from his surgery to correct his facial injuries. He wears a full face shield to protect himself against goon hits like the one that Lowry leveled him with.

Lowry has no prior supplemental discipline at the NHL level. However, the hit was an illegal hit from behind that could have been avoided. It was also delivered late.

I expect Lowry to be called into a hearing with NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety, Stephane Quintal


You better believe that if Kaleta delivered the same hit to an opponent, there would be a cry for him to be suspended long term.

The only way to get that same type of hit out of the game is to enforce a strict zero tolerance for offenders.



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Updated 7pm:

Per the Sabres, Myers is out with a lower body situation tonight.

Is it associated with the block of the Ovechkin shot from Saturday night?



More to come....







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Updated 6:39pm:




Tyler Myers is missing from the pregame warm ups in Buffalo right now.

Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News and I were wondering where #57 was when we didn't see him taking warmups in advance of the Winnipeg game tonight.

Andre Benoit is on the ice in Myers' stead.


Moulson blocked an Alex Ovechkin point shot lwith his left hand in the third period of Saturday night's 2-1 Sabres win in Washington.


He missed the majority of Monday's practice in Buffalo.





Trade speculation has surrounded Myers all season long with Detroit, Anaheim, Edmonton and now Los Angeles involved in the pro-57 chatter.


Is Myers injured?



More to come....





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Their starting goalie Brian Elliott was injured on Tuesday night and the St. Louis Blues are not leaving anything to chance.


Martin Brodeur, the future first ballot Hall Of Famer, has agreed to a tryout with the Blues.

Brodeur, 42, will be on the ice with the club on Friday. If he impresses Ken Hitchcock and GM Doug Armstrong, he may well be offered a contract to stay and play with the Blues.





If Brodeur impresses Hitch and Army, then he'll be signed to a new contract and will ad another chapter to his already illustrious NHL body of work.


However, one wonders what will happen if Brodeur has a so-so performance in Friday's tryout/practice? What if he pops a groin or lets in 50% of the shots that he faces by Backes, Oshie, Tarasenko, Scwartz, Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, et al?


What then?


Wouldn't it be interesting in St. Louis made a trade for a goalie?


How about Michal Neuvirth or Jhonas Enroth in Buffalo?


The Sabres have struggled this season, however, Enroth and Neuvirth have been consistently impressive in the nets. Give or take a stinker here or there, Enroth and Neuvirth have given their team a chance to win games. Its Bufdfalo's D corps and forwards that have berayed excellent goaltending this season.

The Blues will have a scout in Buffalo tonight.



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Speaking of teams who desperately need goaltending help right now, have you seen the Colorado Avalanche lately?

Their starter Semyon Varlamov has been sent to IR with yet another injury this season.

Reto Berra is doing the best he can to bale water while Varlamov gets back to good health. When that will be is anyone's guess. Varlamov is out with a wonky groin, and has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 15.


Calvin Pickard has been recalled to fill in for Varlamov.

He saw his NHL debut on October 16, when he replaced an injured Reto Berra after being an emergency call-up for Semyon Varlamov—who left that day’s morning skate with a groin injury.






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