I know, I know. Odd question coming from a team that houses a guy that ended another player's career and another player that consistently leaves his feet on checks.

Last night seemingly pushed my thought process over the edge. I'll openly admit that Pittsburgh is my #2 team in the NHL. They have been since I was a kid and I can even remember the days of Ken Wregget and Stu Barnes. That being said, they are a VERY distant 2 in my book and that gap opened up a bit wider. Nevertheless, I often turned a blind eye to what they do sometimes (just like I do with the Wings at times) but the repeated cross-checking by the Kid was the last I could stand.

I know it's hockey and that rough stuff happens. People get crosschecked, slashed, punched all the time. But you don't have to be a prick about it. The way they conduct themselves sometimes though just makes it very hard to respect them. There's a world of difference between playing hard and playing dirty.

Let's go to school...

Example 1:

Completely unnecessary hack on Zetterberg (go figure) that easily could have ended the playoffs for Zetterberg if it was a little higher.

Example 2:

Max Talbot blatantly slashes the already injured foot of Pavel Datsyuk. Talbot claims he was going for the puck...which was about 5 feet away from Datsyuk.

Example 3:

Gary Roberts punches Franzen in the head during the middle of a play. Franzen had just returned from a head injury and it was clear Roberts was targeting the head.

Example 4:

Complete cheap shot at a throat, not good.

Example 5:

Well. I don't need to open the Matt Cooke book do I? Marc Savard, Artem Anisimov, Bogosian...

I'm all for big clean hits or pushing and shoving when it's warranted,but when you have guys that do crap like this, it gets ridiculous.