Dustin Brown at the center of two controversial hits

Dustin Brown's reputation in the NHL is starting to get pretty ugly. If you're unfamiliar with Brown as a player, he plays the game with an intensity and a ferocity that's difficult to match. This style appears to get the better of him, causing him to throw controversial hits on a somewhat regular basis. In a span of just three days, Brown placed himself at the center of two eyebrow-raising hits, one on Dallas' Antoine Roussel and one on Minnesota's Jason Pominville. 

Let's start with the hit on Roussel from LA's game against Dallas from April 21st. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-NKf2a4QEAI?rel=0

Roussel has dished the puck and Brown clips him with a "chicken wing" elbow that appears to catch him up high. It's clear that Brown goes out of his way to initiate contact (he swerves to his right after Roussel has passed the puck) and lifts his elbow as he passes, ensuring that he makes some sort of contact with his opponent. It's difficult to determine whether or not Roussel was clipped in the head, but it's clear that the contact was up high.

There was no penalty on the play. 

This hit was pretty bad. It's so completely unnecessary that it's impossible to build a case defending Brown. He could have, and should have, avoided contact.

Moving on, let's look at his elbow on Jason Pominville in LA's game against Minnesota on April 23rd.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_R-X_ko8Fm4?rel=0

Ouch. It's tough to even watch this one. Brown realizes Pominville is coming in fast and instead of continuing to play the puck, he stops and thrusts his elbow up into Pominville's face. Again, you could call this a "chicken wing" similar to the one he used on Roussel. It's becoming Brown's trademark. 

There was no penalty on the play. 

This isn't the first time Brown's been called out for one of his hits. If you recall, he had a controversial knee-to-knee hit on Michal Rozsival during LA's playoff battle with the Phoenix Coyotes. 

Brown's hits above are bad enough, but it's embarrassing for the NHL that neither hit drew a penalty. As seen in the video with the Pominville hit, the official was standing extremely close to the play and looking right at the point of contact. 

Brown should know not to throw hits like these, but it's up to the NHL to enforce the rules and dish out punishments which will prevent players from throwing dangerous and reckless elbows. If the NHL chooses to ignore Brown's recent dirty hits, it's safe to say that teams around the NHL will be ready to hand out punishments of the physical variety.

UPDATE: The NHL has suspended Brown for two games for his elbow on Pominville. He'll miss the remainder of the regular season, but will be back for the playoffs. It's nice to see the NHL take some sort of action here, especially since there wasn't a penalty on the play. 

About David Rogers

Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.

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