Eurolanche

Analysis of Stuart´s dirty hit on Landy

Brad Stuart attacked the captain of Colorado Avalanche, Gabriel Landeskog. The dazed captain had to leave the ice in the first period, but fortunately was back during the middle frame. Ryan O´Byrne avenged his teammate almost immediately and fought with Stuart. O´Byrne received 19 penalty minutes. Sharks had two power plays in a row, scored two goals and made that dirty hit and the following penalty the decisive moment of the game. Stuart did not receive a penalty. The NHL department will look at the hit later.

Landeskog has clearly passed the puck to his offensive zone. He knows Stuart was close to him. Puck was away, but Stuart is still focusing on Landeskog. Stuart is clearly preparing his left elbow for a hard hit. If the following hit was clean, he would have to have his arm in the vertical position.

Stuart´s arm is bent and his elbow is ready. According to the previous screenshot, we can say Stuart wanted to hit Landeskog. It is questionable, if he wanted to use his elbow or not. He did not have to realize it in the speed of game.

Stuart is getting closer to Landeskog. From this angle, everything looks okay. But Stuart is already few inches over the ice. It is his second big mistake after the elbow.

Stuart hits Landeskog. Again, from this angle it looks like clean hit, like he would not even use his elbow. The truth is that his elbow is already prepared for the reflex answer to Landeskog´s face.

Next screenshot is the evidence that Stuart still was not back on the ice and he jumped to Landeskog.

Stuart hits Landeskog with his elbow in the moment of the collision. The evidence is the directed hand to the position of Landeskog´s face. This hand was supposed to be in the vertical position. It is not the classic hard hit, so called “tree hit”. Imagine what was happened, if you would run to the wall. You would fall down. But Stuart´s wall has extra arm and make collision much worse than the usual hard hit. Like in this case.

This picture also shows Stuart´s hit to Landeskog´s face. When Landeskog was falling, Stuart´s hand followed him. It is called physical laws. The object (hand + elbow) followed attacked object (face). If he did not use his hand, his hand would not follow the direction of Landeskog´s fall.

It is clear that Stuart is still few inches over the ice.

Stuart is still not back on the surface of the ice even when Landeskog is already down.

This analysis is the personal opinion of the author. For your discussion and opinions, use the discussion under this article or our message boards.