Jack Eichel Proved That He Is Absolute Nails After Popping Right Up From This Tkachuk Truck Stick
We've seen this hit in the playoffs so many times before. Most of those times by a guy by the name of Scott Stevens. A stone cold killer stalking across the blue line like a shark waiting for its prey, ready to take somebody's head clean off their shoulders. Granted, most of those times it was the opposite blue line. But you get the idea.
He did it to Lindros.
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And he did it to Paul Kariya.
If we're simply talking about massive, bone-jarring hits at a player's own blue line then we can talk about Brian Campbell destroying RJ Umberger.
Fucking Rick Jeanneret calling that hit like it was an overtime game winner in game 7 of the Cup Final.
But yeah. Moral of the story is that the blue lines are always a bad place to find yourself with the puck on your stick in the playoffs when you're going up against a killer. And Matthew Tkachuk is certainly that. Or at least as close to a killer as we have in today's game. So when Jack Eichel turned up the ice to clear this puck out of his zone and found himself squarely on the Tkachuk Tracks? Well…we've seen how that movie has played out before.
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First of all, clean hit by Tkachuk there. That's just playoff hockey. Second of all, it was realistically probably for the best that Eichel toe-picked right before that hit. The way he fell made that hit end up being shoulder-to-shoulder instead of Tkachuk's shoulder barreling through his face.
Either way, I don't think anybody would blame Eichel if he took a quick snooze on the ice after that hit. Helmet went flying off, it was a massive collision, and he obviously has the injury history. But Jack Eichel is a hockey player. He's not just going to lay there on the ice while the rest of his teammates come to his defense to try to kick the shit out of Tkachuk. He's not going to give Florida the satisfaction of watching him lay there. He's going to pop right back up, skate his ass down the tunnel, get himself looked at during the intermission, and then come back in the 3rd period to pitch in an assist and stop any sort of momentum Florida thought they'd be gaining.
Now THAT is playoff hockey. I wouldn't necessarily call it an "off the floor and on the board" moment for Eichel, but it sure as shit is as close as you can get. Jack Eichel woke up yesterday morning and ate a big ol' bowl of nails for breakfast. At lunch he figured he'd add some carbs to the mix, so he ordered himself a nails panini. Pre-game meal? Nails and some piping hot black coffee. What a gritty night for Almost Stanley Cup Champion Jack Eichel.
P.S. -- The guy just gets it.