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Niklas Kronwall Destroys Nikita Kucherov With Blatant Head Shot (Video)

By Tasha St. Pierre

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Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov is absolutely destroyed by a blatant and dangerous head shot from Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall.

When we came into tonight’s encounter at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, we knew that our backs would be against the wall. It was going to take everything we had to overcome the physical play of the Detroit Red Wings and bring this series back to Hockey Paradise. Thankfully, the Lightning weren’t ready to give up just yet.

Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay Lightning would have to endure a lot more than just your average physical play in tonight’s encounter. In fact, the Lightning would have to endure some hits that had the full potential to injure someone in a long term capacity.

In the final minutes of the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would attempt to clear the puck out of the zone. Nikita Kucherov would pick up the puck off of an errant shot that sailed behind the Lightning net. As Kucherov went to play the puck out of the zone he is absolutely destroy by a head shot from Red Wings alternate captain Niklas Kronwall.

Don’t get us wrong, we are all about planting a good, solid hit on an opposing player, but when you leave your feet and blatantly target the head of an opposing player you quickly transition from good, solid hit to actionable play.

Initially, it looked as if Kronwall was attempting to avoid the hit as he kept his elbow tucked in, but after launching from his feet and following up with a hit directly to the head of Kucherov, which sent Kucherov’s helmet flying, the play leans towards the more blatant and dangerous side.

Why don’t you take a look at the hit and judge for yourself?

As if the hit itself wasn’t enough to send Tampa Bay Lightning fans into a rage, the Detroit Red Wings twitter page definitely didn’t do anything to calm the raging fire. In fact, the only thing they accomplished was throwing napalm on an already raging blaze.

We don’t know about you, but to us here in the Bolts Nation it looks like the Red Wings organization is completely ok with the hit. If anything, it seems like they endorse that kind of dangerous play. This is solely our opinion, but there is no place in the National Hockey League for play like this.

We would be absolutely astonished and frankly a little bit disgusted if this play isn’t evaluated by the National Hockey League Department of Player Safety tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, there is little that we can do to affect change in this matter. The decision is solely in the hands of the Department of Player Safety.

There are only a few more hours before the sun rises on a new day and the Department of Player Safety makes their way back into the office once again. If anything is going to happen, certainly we will know before these two teams meet once again on Wednesday night.

What are your thoughts on the play? Do you think the hit was clean or do you think this is something that the Department of Player Safety will be taking a look at in the morning? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Jon Cooper Calls Out the Detroit Red Wings On Questionable Play Style

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