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Alexei Emelin ejected for boarding Jason Spezza (Video)

Alexei Emelin ejected for boarding Jason Spezza (Video)

Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin slammed Stars forward Jason Spezza into the boards from behind.

He pushed him, Spezza flew, and he bled after the play. Which meant ... boarding of course and a game misconduct for the blueliner.

Take a look at the video from Tuesday night’s showdown between the two teams:

So in regards to this hit and Department of Player Safety …

Emelin was given a five-minute major and a game-misconduct for boarding. He’s a repeat offender, after being fined $11,021.51 for an illegal check to the head of Brian Gionta on Nov. 29. He was also fined $5,000 for a butt-end of Pascal Pelletier of the Canucks the prior February.

But … Spezza only suffered a cut on his nose and returned after being stitched per Stars beat scribe Mike Heika. 

Could be one of those ‘looks worse than it is’ type plays. Either way, when a player has space from the boards like Spezza, there needs to be some level of accountability from the defending player. Also, the prior history plays a role.

DoPS, ball is in your court. We know you look at everything.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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