How dare anyone hit one of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Just in case you missed it: Andy Sutton hit the backspace key on Jordan Leopold. Woo-wee.
The fallout and follow-up from one of the most prodigious hits in the Stanley Cup playoffs has been predictable, and at times, laughable.
Here's the stage: With 2:51 left in the opening period of Game 2 at Mellon Arena, Penguins defenseman Leopold takes a pass in his own end and starts to head up the ice.
Watch the video replay closely: Leopold never once looks ahead of him. He puts his head down and starts skating.
Did he have a death wish?
Even after being checked by Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, he still doesn't check his road map. Then, he runs right into Sutton, who had him in the crosshairs.
I have heard a lot of whining and crying about the incident, which momentarily left Leopold out cold on the ice.
But there was absolutely nothing wrong with the hit thrown by Sutton.
His elbows (which have become a hot topic) are tucked in, and he hits Leopold as any other hockey player lays out the standard hit: arms first, leading with the momentum side.
A couple of things are in play: the 4-inch size difference when both are standing upright, and the 6-to-7 inch difference when Leopold is looking down. Let's be real, here - he was dead to rights.
Too bad Leopold wasn't looking up, and was yielding almost 50 pounds to Sutton. That surely wasn't Sutton's problem.
Leopold has long been known as a very good skating defenseman, but one that has trouble thinking through the game at times. This would fall under the latter description.
Sutton is listed at 6 feet 6 inches and 245 pounds, and Leopold checks in at 6 feet 1 inch and 200 pounds. Yeah, Leopold never stood a chance.
It was doomed to be a seismic collision from the start, and how ironic is it that Sidney Crosby (the player that NO ONE is allowed to hit) was the first responder to Sutton?
But the interesting thing about the proceedings was that Penguins agitator Matt Cooke, the crowned king of the dirty hit, was a ghost the rest of the game. I know he wasn't on the ice for the hit, but come on. Know your role, dude.
You could argue that Cooke is invisible on most nights, but whatever.
No Penguins player wanted to touch Sutton with a 50-foot pole after the hit. Why?
Apparently standing up for your teammates in Pittsburgh means skating over to the player, yelling at him and starting a mini-scrum. The kind of mini-scrum that happens after the goalie freezes the puck in his crease.
So it goes, I guess.
The National Hockey League reviewed the hit immediately afterwards and leveled no discipline against Sutton for it. It was deemed clean by the league's discipline and officials committee.
The Penguins had a pretty good response in Game 3, taking the series lead at Scotiabank Place in Kanata, Ont. But the real answer will lie in how they up their team toughness as the playoffs go along.
If they keep silently announcing that their players are open season, it could be a short-lived title defense in the Steel City.
Rob Mixer is a senior studying journalism and The Post's assistant sports editor. If you're afraid of Andy Sutton just as the Penguins are, send him an e-mail at rm234405@ohiou.edu.
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Rob Mixer
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