Player defends his hit after brutally smashing opponent's head from behind.

Ryan Callahan has begun defending himself after throwing a questionable hit on an opponent.

According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward has managed to avoid discipline after boarding Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang early in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday night.

Callahan was given a five-minute major for boarding but was not ejected from the game. Letang was forced to leave the game, but returned before the first intermission.

Callahan said after the game that he thought the position Letang was in made the hit "worse than it was". He believes that Letang "turns at the last second" which didn't give him enough time to do anything but commit to a hit. He did state that he was glad to see Letang return to the game after the check.

[pub]