This one is headed for the highlight reels for all the wrong reasons: Bryan Rust grabbed Porter Martone’s hair in a playoff scrum, and cameras caught it all.
You can see the rookie's head yanked sideways while a referee tries to separate the bodies. It's not a hockey play. It's not even a hockey moment. It's just bad.
The Penguins are down 3-1 in the series and apparently looking for any spark. Pulling a 19-year-old's hair was not the answer.
Hair-pulling sits in a small group of plays the league universally frowns on. It rarely gets reviewed because it rarely happens at this level. When it does, it typically comes from a player who's run out of better ideas.
Rust is not that kind of player. The 33-year-old veteran posted 29 goals and 65 points across 81 regular-season games. He's been Pittsburgh's most consistent forward all year.
-
Player Safety could take a long look at one of hockey's cheapest moves
The Department of Player Safety doesn't typically hand out suspensions for hair pulls. It's more of a fine territory, and usually quiet.
But the visual is loud enough that they may take a second look anyway.
Martone has been the story Philadelphia didn't see coming.
The 19-year-old has 2 goals through 2 playoff games, both game-winners, against an experienced Penguins lineup that should know how to handle rookies.
Maybe that's the problem. Pittsburgh hasn't handled him on the scoreboard, so a frustrated veteran went to a level the rulebook barely covers.
Is this the kind of thing that flips a series? No. But it tells you everything about Pittsburgh's emotional state heading into Game 5. Cracks are showing.
Dan Muse will not address it directly. No coach wants to dignify hair-pulling with a postgame breakdown. Behind closed doors, the conversation is different.
Rick Tocchet's Flyers don't need to do anything. The video does the work. The Penguins handed Philadelphia a free PR win in the middle of a series Pittsburgh is supposed to be fighting to extend.
Should the NHL Department of Player Safety review Bryan Rust's hair pull on Porter Martone?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Glen Gulutzan delivers update after Nils Lundkvist suffers deep facial cut
