Like most everyone in western Pennsylvania, many Penguins were riveted by Monday night’s carnage between the Steelers and Bengals in Cincinnati.
And not necessarily for all the right reasons.
The one universal truth between the NHL and NFL, both physical leagues where injuries are commonplace, is that no one ever wants to see another player — regardless of the opponent — get seriously hurt.
“You don’t want to see a guy that goes to war for your team and goes down with an injury,” Ryan Reaves said. “It’s obviously tough to see. Two teams that don’t like each other. But a couple hits that made contact with the helmet that you don’t like to see. But it’s a physical game.
“You never want to see anyone get hurt, whether it’s a rival or not.”
Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, who was carted off the field after sustaining what appeared to be a serious back injury, has been a regular at Penguins games the past few years and has visited the dressing room on occasion. Penguins defenseman Ian Cole called Shazier “a super nice guy."
"Kind of shocks you a little bit, makes you a little sick to your stomach,” said Cole. “And then, obviously, with the crack-back block from Juju Smith-Schuster, seeing that, and (Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict) going off on a cart or a stretcher or a board or whatever, that’s tough to see. It's tough to see guys get hurt.
"Like the (ESPN) commentators were saying, it's one of those things, you compete against each other and want to compete and be physical. It's a physical sport, just like ours, but I know for sure it’s something you never want to see -- someone hurt or seriously injured.”
In the wake of numerous studies about the effects of concussions, eliminating or at least avoiding hits to the head has been a point of emphasis in both the NHL and NFL in recent years. However, it’s left players trying to strike a balance between being physical and going overboard.
“I think the nature of our sport, football is similar, is that there’s a physical element that’s part of the fabric of the game,” said Mike Sullivan. “There’s always going to be that line that players are challenged with in what’s too much or what isn’t enough. I think that’s something that players have been dealing with as long as the game has been played, and I don’t think football is different in that regard."