Tampa Bay Lightning D Anton Stralman Slew-Footed By Brad Marchand (Video)

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman was slew-footed by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand on Tuesday night at the Amalie Arena.

The Tampa Bay Lightning is dealing with a ridiculous amount of injuries to some of the team’s key players. Not only have these injury issues caused trouble for the player themselves, but it has wreaked havoc on the team’s chemistry and their ability to play anywhere in the general vicinity their talent levels.

Obviously, this has been incredibly stressful on the team as well as their fans. This is one of the many things that make what happened in tonight’s encounter with the Boston Bruins sting that much more.

The Lightning and Bruins were entering the final three minutes in the second period. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman was in the neutral zone watching the play unfold and preparing for the puck to enter the zone. Enter Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Marchand swung around and blatantly slew-footed Stralman, sending him tumbling to the ice. Thankfully, Stralman had the presence of mind to protect himself as he tumbled to the ice. Otherwise, this could have been incredibly bad. The last thing a player needs is to have their head bounce off the ice.

Of course, just like every other game, the referees (namely Dan O’Halloran) would rather choke on their whistles than call a game down the middle. Just in case you couldn’t read into the bitterness in the previous statement, there was no penalty called on the play. Seriously…do the refs need a better vision plan?

Just in case you thought this couldn’t possibly sting a little more, well…the refs finally decided to make a call. A little further down the ice, when Stralman makes contact with David Pastrnak, the referees decided they wanted to call Stralman for Tripping.

So let’s review. Anton Stralman makes what looks like incidental contact with Pastrnak while actually in the middle of a play; however, when Brad Marchand blatantly slew-foots someone, completely away from the play, that’s acceptable? We don’t know about you, but something seems ridiculously imbalanced here.

Just in case you happened to miss the action as it played out, take a look at it and see for yourself.

While we would like to have faith the NHL Department of Player Safety is going to take a closer look at this egregious action, we don’t have a whole lot of faith they are going to stick up for their players. In fact, Brad Marchand’s latest interaction with Player Safety is a gleaming example of this.

Just before the 2017 NHL All-Star break, Brad Marchand decided it was a good idea to do the exact same thing he did to Anton Stralman tonight against Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. We would be hard-pressed to say we normally have any sort of sympathy for Kronwall, but this was just plain wrong.

Now, one would think he would’ve been suspended for his actions. If Player Safety had elected to suspend him, Marchand would’ve been forced to miss the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. We can’t possibly have that, now can we? In lieu of a suspension, he was fined $10,000 for his discretion.

Clearly, being fined a whole .2% of his yearly salary had little to no effect on him. The very first game back from the All-Star break, of which he should have been suspended for, he is back doing the very same thing to someone else. At what point is enough, enough?

At some point, the NHL Department of Player Safety has to grow a spine and actually hold players accountable for their actions. It is this kind of play the NHL needs to get rid of. This is the kind of blatant indiscretion that is not only completely unnecessary but could potentially injure someone…possibly long-term.

Next: Steve Yzerman: 'No Roster Changes...For Now'

While we are only one voice in a sea of fans, we implore the NHL Department of Player Safety to take a stand against this kind of behavior and do what they should have done before the All-Star break. It’s not the first (or even the third) time Marchand has been called to the carpet for this sort of play. Unfortunately, until someone takes a real stand, it is not going to stop.