Gabe Vilardi and Blaze Lizotte

[Earl]

How much time lapsed between my first screen shot above and the second. It was a split second. Gabe started out facing the goal line in the first shot and then the blue line in the second.

I mean it sucks that it happened. Could Lizotte have done something different? Sure. It was a good stretch to make the stick on stick contact and he did kind of lose control of himself there. Things like that happen all the time. Effort like that is what makes Lizotte a great 4th line center. Could Vilardi have not spun to try to avoid the check. Sure.

Bro we just see it a little differently and I don't think Lizotte did it intentionally and yes although Villardi probably could have braced for impact better I think the nudge to the back of his left calf at the 32 second mark ever so slight was enough for the awkward fall. I don't think Lizotte came in their tomahawk chopping the back of his leg but that push to me even as slight as it was was the cause of the awkward fall and I'm only so passionate about my view as that's exactly how I tore my ACL, it's literally the same play albeit at a much higher skill level. I was Villardi in the example and the guy ironically enough was about Lizotte's size and he nudged me in the exact manner as Lizotte did and bingo torn ACL/MCL so I don't think Villardi realizes exactly how lucky he is, it could have been alot worse.

And for the record I'm no Jets fan trolling, lifelong Kings fan and I do like Lizotte as well as Villardi even given his stiff personality

 

[symbology]

Here is another shot. This is moments before the Vilardi injury. What we have here is a Kings player going down awkwardly, with an opponents stick behind him. How careless of those Jets players.

Bro we just see it a little differently and I don't think Lizotte did it intentionally and yes although Villardi probably could have braced for impact better I think the nudge to the back of his left calf at the 32 second mark ever so slight was enough for the awkward fall. I don't think Lizotte came in their tomahawk chopping the back of his leg but that push to me even as slight as it was was the cause of the awkward fall and I'm only so passionate about my view as that's exactly how I tore my ACL, it's literally the same play albeit at a much higher skill level. I was Villardi in the example and the guy ironically enough was about Lizotte's size and he nudged me in the exact manner as Lizotte did and bingo torn ACL/MCL so I don't think Villardi realizes exactly how lucky he is, it could have been alot worse.

And for the record I'm no Jets fan trolling, lifelong Kings fan and I do like Lizotte as well as Villardi even given his stiff personality

I think we see it very similarly. I just am barely on the other side of the fence. If you watch the replays, a few seconds before the hit you see Kaliyev take a shoulder to the head, then get pushed back awkwardly towards the boards and another player. While that was going on Moore as tied up along the boards with a players stick wedged between him and the boards.

I get that Lizotte could have chosen not to make that contact. At the same time the Jet's player could have chosen not to make contact with Kaliyev's head. Fast sport, stuff happens. Lizotte has a tenacity to his game. He would not be the same player without it.

After the check did any of the Jets go after Lizotte, did any of them think it was a bad hit at the time? No, they just thought it was a collision and a pile up along the boards. Which it was. Like I said, I do not think that our views are all that far apart. Lizotte looked tired, off balance even going into the hit. Is he supposed to stop playing? Do players get in similar position many times during the game?

If Vilardi did not get injured we don't even talk about the hit. Even if he fell down. It is only the injury that brings up the conversation. It was a freak accident, a perfect storm. It happens.

 

[Earl]

Here is another shot. This is moments before the Vilardi injury. What we have here is a Kings player going down awkwardly, with an opponents stick behind him. How careless of those Jets players.

I think we see it very similarly. I just am barely on the other side of the fence. If you watch the replays, a few seconds before the hit you see Kaliyev take a shoulder to the head, then get pushed back awkwardly towards the boards and another player. While that was going on Moore as tied up along the boards with a players stick wedged between him and the boards.

I get that Lizotte could have chosen not to make that contact. At the same time the Jet's player could have chosen not to make contact with Kaliyev's head. Fast sport, stuff happens. Lizotte has a tenacity to his game. He would not be the same player without it.

After the check did any of the Jets go after Lizotte, did any of them think it was a bad hit at the time? No, they just thought it was a collision and a pile up along the boards. Which it was. Like I said, I do not think that our views are all that far apart. Lizotte looked tired, off balance even going into the hit. Is he supposed to stop playing? Do players get in similar position many times during the game?

If Vilardi did not get injured we don't even talk about the hit. Even if he fell down. It is only the injury that brings up the conversation. It was a freak accident, a perfect storm. It happens.

Absolutely if there is no injury we are probably talking about Bjornfort's hit in Ontario instead or even Bortuzzo's hit on Lizotte which I thought was dirty but I could see someone saying it wasn't due to their difference in height. I don't think Lizotte meant to do it in terms of the injury it caused and it was as you say a freak accident. I am surprised no Jets went after him as he had the high sticking incident with Morrissey last year so I'll assume even though there has been some turnover in the Jets locker room that #46 ain't on the Xmas card list.

 

[Helvetica]

I wont even argue there was contact with stick to his left leg, there was. That's why he got the trip call. But there's literally nothing else going on with this play that's out of line, and even the stick contact looked pretty weak, but that's neither here nor there. It's a trip, and the refs called it. The problem is vilardi puts his leg back as he's falling, and lands on top of it. And lizotte, who's checking him falls forward as vilardi is not putting up any resistance.

Like you said, i think we see the play differently. But i see nothing here that looks dirty, and no i wouldn't be calling lizotte out if this happened to Kopitar.