Feb 23

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Bruins' David Backes has strong reaction to hit that knocked Matt Grzelcyk out of Game 2

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BOSTON -- Matt Grzelcyk didn't make it through the first period of Wednesday night's Stanley Cup Final matchup after St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist hit the Boston Bruins defenseman from behind and knocked him out of Game 2.

Sundqvist received just a two-minute minor penalty for boarding despite there being contact to the head and the hit coming from behind. Grzelcyk went to the hospital for tests, and that was the only update B's head coach Bruce Cassidy provided after Boston's 3-2 overtime loss in Game 2.

One Bruins player who was not pleased at all with Sundqvist's hit was veteran forward David Backes.

“I don’t think that’s a hit we want in our game," Backes said. "I think it’s from behind, elevated in to his head into the glass. If that’s a two-minute penalty, there’s going to be a shortage of defensemen in this series by the end of it. That’s in somebody else’s hands, that’s something that I think that if I’m making that hit, I’m probably watching from the bleachers for a few. But we will see what happens with their player.” 

The NHL's Department of Player Safety will "take a good look" at the hit, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. Game 3 of the series in St. Louis isn't until Saturday night, so the league has plenty of time to review the play.

The physicality and chippiness in Game 2 were more intense than what we saw in the series opener, and this probably is the new normal for the rest of the series.

"There were a lot more confrontations I thought, some of that might have had to do with guys trying to pull the pin on the puck before it explodes a litlte bit and trying to take a little bit of extra time with it," Backes said. "The quicker the puck moves the tougher it is to finish pucks."

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