Goalie Hits: Yay or Nay?

In case you missed it, during the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins game, Milan Lucic checked Ryan Miller on a breakaway. Lucic deflected a shot off his skate which gave him a 1 0n 1 chance with Miller. As he sped up the boards, he poked the puck a little to far in front of him which caused Miller to go out and try to play the puck. Lucic laid a nasty hit on Miller, which obviously sparked a ton of controversy.

Take a look at the hit, two things are apparent:

Miller was way out of the crease, which made the hit legal
Lucic did appear to have some time to avoid the hit

That gives way for arguments on both sides as to whether it was okay, or if it was completely dirty. Checking a goalie has always been an unwritten rule and there is usually a punishment(generally on the ice) that goes a long with it.

When in the above situation, does that make it okay to check the goalie?

Ryan Miller is obviously pissed at the situation:

"“I just stuck around because I wanted to say what a piece of s**t I think Lucic is,” Miller said. “Fifty pounds on me, and he runs me like that? It’s unbelievable. Everyone in this city sees him as a big, tough, solid player. I respected him for how hard he plays. That was gutless. Gutless. Piece of s**t.”"

I have always been against checking the goalie when it is avoidable. If it happened to Hiller, I would expect the Ducks to swarm on whoever did it, which is what I expect of the Sabres in coming games. Lucic did seem to have some time to avoid the hit, but Miller definitely went

to far to try and play the puck.

I suppose we will have to wait to see if Shanahan will do anything to Lucic or not.

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