Matt Calvert breaks his stick over Tom Kuhnhackl in vicious attack

The Columbus Blue Jackets are in a big 2-0 hole after dropping Game 2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 4-1 score. While other road teams around the NHL are securing wins in opposing arenas, the Blue Jackets played another disappointing game in which they barely threatened and looked overwhelmed by a superior opponent. As time expired in Game 2, frustrations boiled over for the Blue Jackets and it resulted in Matt Calvert completely crossing the line in an attack on Tom Kuhnhackl.

Calvert ran around in the final minute attempting to hit any player in a black and gold uniform. After crunching one Penguin with a hefty check, he found Kuhnhackl and dished out a vicious cross-check which cracked his stick in half. For good measure, he knocked over the hunched over Penguin.

The Blue Jackets were understandably frustrated with their play through the first two games of the series, but Calvert was way out of line. He cross-checked an unsuspecting player and the force was enough to break his stick. As if that wasn’t enough, Calvert turned around and put another hit on Kuhnhackl while he was still reeling from the original cross-check.

There’s no question that the NHL needs to hand out some additional discipline on this hit. Looking big picture, there are very few other hits that come to mind when thinking of a more unprovoked, dangerous play which could have caused a serious injury.

Calvert should be forced to sit for a very, very long time.