Tampa Bay Lightning F Ondrej Palat Levels Cal Clutterbuck (Video)
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat absolutely leveled New York Islanders right wing Cal Clutterbuck in the second period of Game 4 at the Barclays Center.
The Tampa Bay Lightning knew heading into tonight’s Game 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn they were going to be met with a great deal of physical play from a New York Islanders team who is hungry for a win in front of their hometown fans to even out the series before heading back to the Sunshine State for Game 5.
As expected, from the moment the first puck dropped both teams were going at each other like it was Fight Night in Las Vegas and Tyson vs. Holyfield was on the card. It all started when New York Islanders right wing Steve Bernier took a shot at Ben Bishop’s head, shaking him up in the first moments of the game. From there, things only seemed to escalate.
This brings us to the subject of our little tale. As we mentioned before, as the time continued to tick off the clock and the pressure seemed to continue to build. Especially for a Tampa Bay Lightning team who has trailed through two periods of play. Then, the Tampa Bay Lightning may have finally encountered the spark they needed to get back into the game and take control.
The Lightning were attempting to play the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone to put some pressure on New York Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss. It was Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat who would have the pleasure of bringing the puck into the neutral zone.
As you can imagine, the Islanders weren’t simply going to let Palat cruise into the zone without some sort of opposition. It would be Islanders right wing Cal Clutterbuck who would make chase and attempt to knock Palat off the puck and make his way back into the Islanders’ offensive zone. Unfortunately, the only thing that would be knocked in this situation was Cal Clutterbuck.
Clutterbuck leaned in to make the hit on Palat, who simply braced for impact and used his one hundred and eighty-eight-pound frame do all the work for him. Clutterbuck bounced off of Palat like one of those bouncy balls you get out of a vending machine that had just been thrown against a brick wall.
The good news is that Clutterbuck would get back up after the play, but he would spend quite a bit of time away from the Islanders bench. Thankfully, he was able to return to the game before the third period of play, which was delayed by rink repairs, and join his teammates on the bench.
It’s plays like this that illustrate just how valuable a player like Ondrej Palat is to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is clearly one of the Lightning’s most skilled forwards who also just happens to have the body mass and the wherewithal to make big hits when the right time comes calling.
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There is still plenty of hockey to be played between these two teams. If the first two periods of play are any indication of what we can expect from the third period, we are certainly in store for some hard-hitting, high-powered hockey. What more can you ask for in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?