The NHL's ledger of seriously lousy hits, checks, hacks and whacks is filled with gray.
Some are legitimately accidental. Some come with bad intent but can easily conceal that. It's seldom crystal clear and, when it comes to fan discussion and debate, it's almost always viewed from the perspective of the favorite team.
And then there's this garbage:
That happened in the final few seconds of the Penguins' 7-0 slaughter of the Senators in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final Sunday at PPG Paints Arena: The Ottawa player, Tommy Wingels, raises his right elbow. That's unmistakable. He targets the head of Scott Wilson. Also unmistakable. He makes significant impact. Also unmistakable.
I'm writing an opinion piece here, but there's no opinion about any of the above.
There's also no mistaking this: Real damage was done.
Our photographer, Matt Sunday, was shooting in the immediate vicinity. He described for our staff Wilson appearing to have lost his vision, at least for a spell. He reached out for the glass and boards to try to find his way back to the Penguins' bench, even as his teammates unknowingly skated to the far end of the ice to celebrate their victory with Matt Murray. By the time Wilson finally made it, Marc-Andre Fleury and an athletic trainer assisted him off the ice and down the runway:
