Nathan Horton for Aaron Rome

Nathan Horton for Aaron Rome, the Canucks will take this any day of the week.  The Bruins lose one of their top forwards for the remainder of the playoffs, the Canucks lose a journeyman player.   I know Rome's a good guy, but give me a break.  In the biggest hockey venue of the season, he decides to make a lateral, leave-your-feet, late head-shot hit on Nathan Horton.  Doesn't do much for the game, doesn't say much for the league and because Rome lost his poise, his actions could have a very real effect on the outcome of this series.

Interesting comments from NHL SVP of Operations Mike Murphy, Murphy claims the Rome hit would have been legal if it were not late.  That's like saying the drunk driver would have been sober if he drank only twelve beers instead of fifteen.  Watch the video again Mike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUYqTE3cnuQ he went for the head, it was still a lateral hit and he left his feet. You might want to turn the reins over to Brendan Shanahan now before this series gets any uglier.  Really, where do they get these guys?

The league did not bring this incident on, however, the player did.  Until the players take ownership of the problem and start respecting one another, these types of occurrences will continue.  The NHL, despite a new disciplinarian, loses yet another opportunity to eliminate blind-side hits.  Rome's suspension is nothing - he should have received at least 10 games into the regular season next year. 

Other notes....referee Stephen Walkom did the Bruins a huge favor by giving Shawn Thornton a "preventative misconduct".  The Bruins need Thornton's presence in game 4, had he played out the remainder of game 3 he quite possibly would have done something to warrant a game suspension.  Momentum is a funny thing, the Bruin's have woken up and it's highly likely this will continue...remember my prediction, Bruins in 6.