Zac Rinaldo faces likely suspension after hit on Kris Letang

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Zac Rinaldo -- who else? -- landed a crushing hit on Penguins defenseman Kris Letang during the Flyers' 3-2 overtime victory on Tuesday (see game recap).

It was another bad hit in which Rinaldo lost control of himself -- in the offensive zone, no less -- and clocked Letang high, with the latter’s head striking the glass during the first period.

Rinaldo drew a five-minute major, game misconduct and faces at least a six-game suspension. He has been offered an in-person hearing by the league for which a date and time would be determined.

Letang could have been concussed on the hit.

“Anytime a player’s hit like that the protocol is to remove them and make sure you go through that concussion protocol,” Penguins coach Mike Johnston said.

“So that’s what they’ve done. They took him out of the game. That doesn’t mean that it is a concussion. We’ll see tomorrow morning.”

Rinaldo was already bracing himself for a possible ban after the game.

“More than likely I’m going to get suspended,” Rinaldo said. “That’s the way the league is going right now. Especially it being Kris Letang, a star player.

“It being me with some history, and I think him getting hurt didn’t help me in my situation either. Just have to take it with a grain of salt.”

Rinaldo has been disciplined by either fine or suspension an average of once every 53 games by the NHL. He has been suspended twice -- four games last April and two games prior to that.

He is a repeat offender who still can’t figure out where the line is on clean vs. dirty.

To make things worse for himself, Rinaldo jokingly said his hit was the incident that sparked the Flyers to beat the Penguins amid four fights that would follow in the second period.

“Yeah, I changed the whole game,” Rinaldo said. “Who knows what the game would have been like if I didn’t do what I did.”

Rinaldo launched himself on the hit.

“I was going pretty fast,” he said. “I think me hitting him and the impact of me leaving him threw me up a little bit. If you slow down any hit you see guys in every single hit. You slow it down and dissect every single detail you are going to see something that you can criticize.”

Flyers coach Craig Berube wouldn’t pass judgment on his often out-of-control winger.

“We will see what the league says,” Berube said. “It’s a penalty. You can’t hit from behind, but I have no comment on that. That’s up to the league.”

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