During last night’s Senators’ 4-2 win over the Canadiens in Game One of their best-of-seven first round series, Ottawa defenseman Eric Gryba delivered a big hit on Habs’ forward Lars Eller that resulted in head and facial injuries. He was assessed a five-minute interference major and game misconduct.

With no off day, the two teams are back at it tonight at the Bell Centre. This gave League Deputy Brendan Shanahan little time to make a decision. Rather than holding a phone interview, he suspended Gryba two games for the incident. At first glance, I felt it was suspension worthy. The live look made it appear a lot worse. Gryba caught Eller with a right shoulder that landed on the kisser.

Since the suspension was handed out, there’s been outrage on Twitter. Most disagree with the ruling. On TSN, they broke it down with former referee Kerry Fraser. Fraser does a great job explaining why it wasn’t even a penalty. Here’s a closer look:

Fraser takes us through the hit noting the point of contact. “It’s a clean hit with a bad result,” he told TSN. The hip makes contact with the groin area and then the head is contacted by the back shoulder cap. He says you can make contact with the head as long as there’s sufficient body contact.

Former players Aaron Ward and Mike Peca further illustrate why they agreed with Fraser by referencing Montreal defenseman Raphael Diaz’ “suicide pass,” which put Eller in a vulnerable position. TSN’s Bob McKenzie didn’t feel it was a penalty either but did note that the hit might’ve violated Rule 48. Principle Point Of Contact. That might better explain why  Gryba will sit out the next two games. Though it looks like their views are accurate, which means he didn’t have to be suspended.

Furthermore, there have been many gripes about Gryba getting victimized due to being a fringe player. That if he was a star, there would’ve been no ban. I still maintain that every case is different. I’m curious as to what Shanahan will say in his video response.