Late in the first period of yesterday's game against Carolina, Noel Acciari was attempting to complete a backcheck when Jesse Puljujarvi cut across the blueline and hit Acciari in the chin with what appeared to be the knob of his stick and his fist. Acciari was very slow to get up and seemed to be dazed after taking the hit. He collected himself enough to skate off under his own power but did not return to the game.
At the time, Sheldon Keefe was already irate and was giving it to officials saying "there's f***ing four of you out here!" He was obviously displeased with the lack of a call there and then a nonsense "goaltender interference" call just seconds later didn't do much to cool Keefe's heated state.
Following the game, Keefe shared an update on Acciari saying, "He was in the room & handed off the belt tonight to the Reeser. So, he seems like he's doing alright, but clearly couldn't come back in the game so that's concerning."
Keefe also shared his thoughts on the play in particular. "My view of it, obviously, is it should be a penalty. It's tough to lose a player like that on a play like that. The refs saw it differently." Keefe had no problem sending his message to the officials through the media, affirming his belief that that play is something that just HAS to be called. He definitely has a point.
