Boston Bruins: Game 67 (The Chara Hit)

Record: 38-20-8 (1st place in division, 2nd place in conference)

     Once again, just when I think the Bruins have figured out the offensive side of things they stop scoring goals.  It's turning into a trend this season.  I haven't studied how these runs compare to their schedule, but something tells me it has a lot to do with the competition.  For the third game in a row, the B's couldn't get anything in the net.  They carried the play the whole game but still couldn't put any sustained pressure on Price.  If they plan on making a run in the playoffs, we can only hope they time one of their scoring streaks just right, because if we get the offense that showed up the last three games it's going to be a quick exit.
     Of course the real news from this game was the Chara hit.  If you read my Soap Box post on the Islanders, you know my feelings about the league's handling of these kinds of things.  If the league really wants to get rid of the melee's, like the one we saw earlier this year with the Penguins and Islanders, they need to come down hard and consistently on reckless and dirty play.  Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zq7b6QhVdA&feature=related)  was a perfect opportunity for the league to practice the theory.  No matter what the intent, the hit was reckless and uncalled for especially where on the ice it occurred.  There was plenty of time for Chara to disengage after Pacioretty got rid of the puck, and what resulted was horrible.  But the league decided not to suspend Chara at all.  Ironically, it's usually the Bruins who end up at the wrong side of these decisions.  Matt Cooke got nothing for taking Marc Savard's head off, Randy Jones got a meager 2 games for crushing Patrice Bergeron from behind.  What recourse do the Canadians now have other then turn the next game with the Bruins into a blood bath?  The two teams already hate each other.  They've already had a few chippy fight filled battles.  There is no way this ends well.  If the league slapped Chara with a 5 game suspension, the whole thing stops right there, justice would have been served and the Canadians wouldn't need to take their pound of flesh.
     That's also saying nothing about the league's supposed stance on head injuries.  Unlike the Matt Cooke hit, I feel that the intent of the Chara hit could be argued either way.  And I know this makes it a slightly tougher issue, but it still feels like the league is talking out of the side of it's mouth when it claims to want to do more about head injuries.  There was a questionable hit.  The hit player was taken off the ice on a stretcher and ended up having a severe concussion and a broken vertebrae.  The league could have made a statement, but they didn't.  That tells me, they could care less about truly protecting the players on the ice.  I better not hear a bunch of people going crazy when the next Bruins/Canadians match-up ends up a free for all.  Because that's what the league has set up.