In the Devils’ 3-2 loss to the Flyers, what will get plenty of attention is Jeff Carter’s hit that injured defenseman Anssi Salmela after he scored shorthanded in the first period. In reviewing it, the first angle looked worse with him catching the reacquired D a little late after he’d released the puck. The debate is whether it was cheap. In Carter’s defense, he was coming hard on the backcheck and seemed to be making a hockey play. However, it doesn’t look good. Especially on a team synonymous for these types of hits. Mike Richards had one earlier on Dominic Moore who was concussed.

Fortunately, Salmela who was taken off on a stretcher only suffered a fractured broken nose and some missing teeth. Good news for the Devils, whose blueline was weakened in the Ilya Kovalchuk deal. Puck Daddy’s Sean Leahy has more on the controversial play:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Devils-Salmela-taken-off-on-stretcher-after-hit?urn=nhl,218397