In last night’s important 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Eric Gryba was handed a match penalty and game misconduct with 11:56 left on the clock in the second period for his hard hit on Blue Jackets center Artem Anisimov.<\/p>\n[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FK1nvtGKXMc]\n
After his drop pass that left the\u00a0puck in close proximity to his\u00a0feet, Anisimov left himself vulnerable to a hit. There’s no question that Gryba squared him up with his shoulder and targeted the center of Anisimov’s body. It never looked, at least from my viewing of the footage, that\u00a0the head was the principle point of contact, but Anisimov was shaken up enough to\u00a0leave the game and it did look like\u00a0Gryba exploded upwards and finished high with his forearm, which is something that the league generally has a history of frowning upon.<\/p>\n
Following his hit on Lars Eller<\/a> in the first round of\u00a0the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, Gryba was given\u00a0a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head. So with that in mind, these factors all\u00a0led to uncertainty as to whether Gryba would be subject to further discipline from the league.<\/p>\n Apparently that won’t be happening however.<\/p>\n No further discipline for #Sens<\/a> Gryba as #NHL<\/a> feels hit on #CBJ<\/a> Anisimov didn’t target the head.<\/p>\n \u2014 Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) October 29, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n