Milan Lucic delivered one of the best hits of the season on Friday night, destroying Auston Watson with a huge shoulder-to-shoulder check behind the Edmonton goal. The hit sent Watson flipping/spinning through the air and eventually gave the Oilers a powerplay as Watson foolishly retaliated after the whistle.
These are the types of hits you want to see in hockey. It’s as clean as a hit can be in hockey. Watson had no idea Lucic was coming until the last moment, but the point of contact was shoulder-to-shoulder and didn’t break any of the usual rules other monster hits typically break.
Watson’s reaction is one you’d expect after a dirty hit and it ended up costing the Predators. He should have sucked it up, admitted he got legally and cleanly destroyed and moved on. Instead, he hit Lucic after the whistle and it hurt his team.
In a perfect demonstration of karma, Lucic ended up scoring the game-tying goal on the ensuing powerplay. The Predators went on to defeat the Oilers in a shootout, but Lucic’s hit went a long way in getting Edmonton an important point.
