Star Islanders Rookie Maxim Tsyplakov May Be Facing Major Suspension for Vicious Hit

During last night's game between the Flyers and Islanders, rookie Maxim Tsyplakov delivered a thunderous hit that led him to have a hearing later today.

During the first period at 8:23 in the New York Islanders' 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, forward Maxim Tsyplakov plastered Ryan Poehling into the boards while defending a shorthanded opportunity.

Poehling left with an upper-body injury and did not return after being helped off the ice. After a brief scrum, the referees huddled up and gave Tsyplakov a major penalty, allowing them to review the play with video replay.

After review, they deemed the hit clean, a ruling Flyers head coach John Tortorella was visibly livid over and seemed to refer to as a "f----- headshot," per lip-reading interpretations.

It appears that the Department of Player Safety has stepped in and will have a hearing with Tsyplakov to go over the hit, per NHL columnist Arthur Staple.

To rub salt in the wound, Bo Horvat capitalized on the ensuing man advantage to add to the Islanders' momentum.

The rest of the first period saw Flyers players take runs at Tsyplakov, led by Garnet Hathaway, who took a slashing penalty and continued to hunt down the Islanders' No. 7.

But Tsyplakov didn't crack under the pressure and kept his cool, never losing his game while very much in control of what was happening.

Fans will be keeping a very close eye on this situation to see if Tsyplakov does indeed receive a suspension or a fine, but one thing's for sure, anytime a player's head is involved in an incident, it's always worth a second look.

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