Right from the start of the Jets/Penguins game you knew it was going to be a physical affair. To that end Pittsburgh had recalled Tom Sestito from their AHL franchise to provide a little bit more muscle.
Just three minutes into the 1st period Blake Wheeler and Evgeni Malkin dropped the gloves to finish what they had started in Pittsburgh. This was followed almost immediately (two seconds to be precise) by Sestito and Jets enforcer Chris Thorburn having a rather spirited tilt.
About ten minutes after the fight with Thorburn, Sestito saw an opportunity to hit Tobias Enstrom and took it.
That choice cost Sestito a five minute major and game misconduct. Will it cost him more? We shall have to see if the Department of Player Safety steps in. Update: NHL Player Safety tweeted this morning that Sestito will have a hearing today for boarding Enstrom. Not that this will matter much to Jets fans. Sestito hadn’t played an NHL game since November 16th so this won’t impact the Penguins at all. The Jets cannot say the same thing.
Following the game Jets coach Paul Maurice indicated that “Toby is at the hospital now. He is getting checked for facial fractures. We will have a better idea about it tomorrow.”
The Jets bench boss was responding to a question about the Penguins calling up Sestito and whether that makes him upset and after saying there was no cost to them (the Penguins), Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Free Press added “but there is a cost to you” to which Paul Maurice replied “we are going to lose a good defenceman for awhile”.
The Jets are off on Thursday so we may not get an update until Friday on the status of the defenceman but it doesn’t sound good.
