Philadelphia Flyers forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for a hit from behind on Washington’s Dmitry Orlov in Game 3 of their opening round playoff series.
The hearing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
Orlov was taken head-first into the end boards in a play that looked really bad. Fortunately, Orlov seemed relatively ok afterward and stayed in the game.
Bellemare was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the hit. It is a now infamous incident that started a load of wristband throwing from Philadelphia fans that ended not only in frustration, but a delay of game on the Flyers where the Capitals scored.
Philadelphia's Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will have a hearing today for checking from behind on Washington's Dmitry Orlov.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 19, 2016
In addition to staying in the game, Opik practiced Tuesday, which will help tamp down the length of Bellemare’s suspension if there is one.
The French forward has no disciplinary history to speak of, which will also help him keep the number of games down, should it come to that.
That matters for Philadelphia, who is staring down the barrel of elimination after falling 6-1 in Game 3 to go down 3-0 in the series. That can’t afford to have any disadvantages right now. To stay alive, they’re going to have to take four straight, including two on the road, against the team with the best regular season record.
Here’s the hit.
And here’s the aftermath, including a Flyers fan hitting Orlov in the head with a wristband while he was being attended to by a team physician.
Dustin Nelson is the News Editor for The Hockey Writers. He’s a contributor to Hockey Prospectus, Hockey Wilderness, and writes a column for Rotowire. He’s also written for Gone Puck Wild, Wild Xtra, InDigest, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Tiny Mix Tapes, Prefix Magazine & other publications. Have a tip? Email him at dlukenelson[at]gmail[dot]com.
