Ryan Reaves Just Killed A Guy
Holy shitballs.
That was one of the most violent open ice homicides I've seen since Brian Campbell sent RJ Umberger to the shadow realm.
And I gotta be honest here...I just don't see much wrong with this hit here. At least not from a legal standpoint. Hronek turns his head away as he's exiting the zone. Before he has a chance to turn back around and notice the freight train heading his way, it's too late. He's already stuck on the tracks. Reaves lowers his shoulder, keeps his feet on the ground, and drives right through Hronek's soul. Was there head contact? Sure. But I don't think there's necessarily anything else that's illegal about this hit.
What I will say, though, is that maybe--juuuuuust maybe--Ryan Reaves doesn't have to end a life here. I get that Hronek didn't have his head up. I get that he was exiting the zone with the puck on his stick acting like this was a beer league game at 10:30 at night where you can take your sweet ass time getting out of the zone without a worry in the world. But just because someone hands you a loaded gun, that doesn't mean you immediately have to turn and shoot them in the head. Just because Filip Hronek gave Ryan Reaves every reason to smoke him here doesn't mean he couldn't have to Thanos snap him like that. I don't know. Maybe that's just me. But my official ruling on this hit here is that it's not illegal, it's just a dickhead hit.
Also shoutout to the linesmen for not letting anyone step up to immediately fight Reavo after that hit. There was already one killshot on the play, there wasn't any need for more. Usually a hit like that will always result in some fisticuffs, but the linesmen made the right call on this one.