Brooks Orpik leaves on stretcher
— -- BOSTON -- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Brooks Orpik was taken off the ice on a stretcher after he was jumped, thrown to the ice and punched twice in the head by the Boston Bruins' Shawn Thornton during a stoppage in play at 11:06 of the first period Saturday night at TD Garden.
Thornton was handed a match penalty.
Orpik was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was alert and conscious, the Penguins announced.
This rematch of last season's Eastern Conference final -- which the Bruins swept in four games -- was a physical game from the opening puck drop. On the first shift of the game, Orpik knocked the Bruins' Loui Eriksson from the game with a major check.
Eriksson had trouble getting to his feet, but made it to the bench before being taken to the locker room. It was announced a few minutes later that he would not return.
After Eriksson left, Thornton attempted to fight Orpik, but the Pittsburgh defenseman did not oblige. Thornton was given two minutes for roughing.
The physical battle continued as the Bruins' Milan Lucic and Pittsburgh's Deryk Engelland dropped the gloves at 7:19 of the first period.
With the game tied 1-1, the Bruins' Brad Marchand was on the ice as the Penguins' James Neal skated by and appeared to intentionally knee Marchand in the head. As Marchand lay on the ice, play was stopped as he was tended to by a trainer.
Thornton then skated towards Orpik, grabbed him and threw him to the ice before he started to punch him.
Orpik's eyes were open but he was clearly out of it as he was tended to by trainers from both teams and a Bruins team doctor. After nearly 10 minutes, Orpik was taken off the ice on a stretcher as Bruins fan applauded.
Incidentally, Bruins coach Claude Julien spoke at length after the team's morning skate in general about teams retaliating after clean hits. He was asked whether or not he would like retaliation fights removed from the game.
"I'm not going to answer that the way you probably want to because I'm not crazy about that but at the same time I understand the other side of it," Julien said. "Do we stick together as a team or not? And that's where the players right now, when they do that, they say, 'Listen, my guy just got nailed and I'm going to stick up for my teammate.'
"And that's good for a team to know that they have each other's backs. So it's a hard thing to clean out. It's a hard thing because I respect that part of the thinking but also I want to see a hockey game where you're allowed to give good hits and not have to be punished. So I don't know if I have the right answer or the right solution for that."
