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Luke Glendening got his hand sliced up in a scrum during Game 4. Justin Abdelkader was tag-teamed by Steven Stamkos and Jason Garrison in Game 5, crunched into the boards as possible retaliation for a hit from the regular season.
And then last night, late in the second period of Game 6, Niklas Kronwall destroyed Nikita Kucherov on a check that brought the Joe Louis Arena crowd to its feet.
There was no penalty called. The postgame comments from both the Red Wings and Lightning indicated no hard feelings. Both squads seemed to be in agreement that it was a clean hockey play. Explosive, yes, but nothing beyond the added physicality that comes with the territory in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Much to the Wings’ chagrin, however, the NHL brought the hammer down tonight, announcing a one-game suspension for Kronwall. He will watch tomorrow night’s series-deciding Game 7 from the comfort of his living room. It’s a significant blow for a Red Wings team trying to hold on for dear life in the postseason’s opening round.
The Detroit blue line will be missing its most dependable player in Kronwall, especially costly following the Lightning’s offensive onslaught that just took place Monday night.
The defensive replacement will likely be either Alexey Marchenko, a rookie that struggled in the first two games of this series, or Jakub Kindl, a part-timer that hasn’t laced ‘em up yet in these playoffs.
The Red Wings have already won twice in Tampa during this series, but taming the beast in a do-or-die contest is a different story entirely.
And fair or not, now they’ll have to do it without one of their most important veteran pieces.
The long odds on this underdog Red Wings team just got longer.
