The hit that caused the brawl in yesterday's Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game may have cost Danny Briere the rest of his season. A release from the team's twitter account states that Briere is out indefinitely with an upper back contusion.
INJURY UPDATE: #Flyers Danny Briere - out indefinitely with upper back contusion. Nicklas Grossmann - out 7-10 days with lower body injury
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 2, 2012
So far, the Penguins' Joe Vitale, whose hit caused Briere's injury, has not heard from the NHL offices about a possible suspension, nor does he think that the hit was dirty. He claims he was playing his shifts as he normally does.
#Penguins Vitale said he had not heard from NHL. Said of hit on Briere, "I thought I came in [with a] clean shoulder-to-shoulder hit."
— Shelly Anderson (@pgshelly) April 2, 2012
More #Penguins Vitale: "I was playing my last shift like I play every shift. ... I didn’t know [it was Briere], and I really didn’t care."
— Shelly Anderson (@pgshelly) April 2, 2012
The Flyers and the Penguins are currently matched against each other to play in the first round of the playoffs. If these two teams play in the postseason there could be a lot of fireworks.
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