Matt Tennyson busted open after a big hit from Chris Kreider.

There are a lot of fans angry with New York Rangers veteran Chris Kreider right now but I have to be honest, I feel like New Jersey Devils veteran Matt Tennyson deserves at least some of the blame for his injuries on the day.

The Rangers and Devils faced off on Saturday in one of the National Hockey League's afternoon games and although you probably did not have much to cheer for if you are a Devils fan, it was a pretty spirited affair nonetheless. The Devils were gifted plenty of opportunities during the game to make this a much closer game than the final scoreline of Rangers 4 - Devils 0 would lead you to believe, but in spite of the Rangers picking up a whopping 34 minutes of penalties in this one the Devils were never able to convert even a single goal. In fact the Devils' power play was so lost in this one that the Rangers ended up finishing the game with not one, but two shorthanded goals including this ridiculous one from Rangers forward Jesper Fast.

That shorthanded goal stemmed from arguably the most controversial decision of the game, a 5 minute boarding major that was given to the aforementioned Chris Kreider,  on top of a 5 minute penalty for fighting, for a hit he delivered to the aforementioned Matt Tennyson. Tennyson was making his way around the back of the Devils net when Kreider saw an opportunity to line up the Devils defender for a big hit, and did exactly that. Tennyson however also appeared to have Kreider in his sights and as the Rangers forward closed in for the hit Tennyson attempted to quickly change directions. The result was a hit to the back of Tennyson's shoulder that drove the Devils' defenseman head first into the boards, one that left him with a decent gash in his forehead as well.

The Devils were understandably furious with the hit given the damage that had been done to Tennyson's face, but there may have been no one angrier in the building than Rangers head coach David Quinn. Quinn clearly felt that Tennyson had quite deliberately turned his back to force Kreider to avoid contact, and although there was no doubt that Tennyson was boarded on the play I can certainly see why Quinn objected to his player being ejected from the game. 

The Rangers would continue to cruise to victory however, with the only goal coming as a result of these penalties being the one scored by Jesper Fast while shorthanded.