Alex Ovechkin tonight engaged in some brutal hockey-playing, and found himself knocked out of the game, both by injury, and by the refs, who ejected him for an illegal knee-on-knee collision with the Hurricanes Defenseman Tim Gleason. The hit is absolutely brutal, and the ejection is possibly deserved, but of more concern is his recent violent streak: it’s his second game misconduct penalty in three games (he was ejected this weekend for boarding against Buffalo) and is his third serious violation of league rules this season.

It’s not clear how bad Ovi’s knee injury is, we’ll know more in the morning, probably also with a league ruling over his hit on Gleason. The Post’s Tarik El-Bashir caught up with Ovechkin after the game, who had no comment, but was walking without a brace or crutches, which may indicate it wasn’t that serious. The question becomes, though, is Ovi too brutal?

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.