December 14, 2024 by Josh Boulton

The Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to four game with a 7-1 triumph over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The decisive victory took place at Xcel Energy Center, a building that traditionally hasn’t been kind to the orange and blue in the Connor McDavid era.

One of the very negatives to come out of this game for the Oilers was an injury to Evan Bouchard late in the third period. Bouchard was shaken up after a battle with Wild career troublemaker Ryan Hartman. While the extent of injury is unknown, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that Bouchard was walking with a slight limp after the game.

The incident occurred with just under four minutes left remaining in regulation, and many Oilers fans are calling it “dirty”, with others going so far as to ask for a suspension. I think that reaction to the hit is extremely off base.

While part of me wishes the Oilers had responded better because of the result, I don’t see anything more than a routine 50-50 puck battle. Forget the score. Forget the timing. Just look at the play and try to find anything Hartman does that literally any other player in this situation wouldn’t do.

They’re both going for the puck and Hartman leans on Bouchard to box him out. Period. For Bouchard’s part he probably should have been more prepared for contact, but it’s easy to let your guard down a bit when the game is going the way it is.

What Hartman did wasn’t excessive, and wasn’t unreasonable at all for the situation. Bouchard got cleanly and routinely knocked off the puck, plain and simple.

I’m all for punishing dirty plays, and I’m especially fond of going hard on repeat offenders like Hartman. I just don’t see any reason to be pulling the fire alarms on this when there isn’t even any smoke.