Murray not happy with hit on Kopitar

After last night’s game, Terry Murray returned to what has been a familiar theme with him over the past three years. Murray was displeased with the hit delivered to Anze Kopitar by Minnesota’s Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak got a five-minute boarding penalty but did not receive any supplemental discipline from the league today. Kopitar went head-first into the boards and stayed down for a couple minutes, but returned during the ensuing power play. A video of the hit is included below, and Murray said he found it troubling in the context of players’ mindsets today…

MURRAY: “I was worried about that one. That’s a very dangerous play. You get cross-checked from behind into the boards like that. I’ve seen too many players blow their knees, legs, break their legs in those situations. I was very concerned about that one.

“I watch games around the league, and it’s a concern that it happens as often as it does in the game. The hits, when you’re five or six feet from the boards, that end up being cross-checks — and I saw in a game tonight, before ours even started, on television — I don’t get it. I don’t get the attitude, the mentality of the players today, the lack of respect and the danger, the jeopardy that they’re putting their fellow P.A. [players’ association] members in, with that kind of an attitude. It makes no sense to me. That never happened before. In my generation, that never happened. You rode a guy hard, but you got him in a situation where you’re both standing up and the boards would absorb your hit. Today, it’s almost an intent to hurt somebody.’’

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