"That always happens with me. I get on a good streak and then something bad always happens." Rinaldo lamented to beat writers following Sunday night's blowout win over Buffalo. "I try not to think about it too much."
Well, Zac, the guys that make up the NHL's Department of Player Safety have been thinking about it, and the only way to deal with your obvious cheap shot - and the way in which it should be dealt with - is to suspend you for Philadelphia's final four games of the season.
It's only fair, right? Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
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To his due, Rinaldo did acknowledge guilt in the incident at the same time as trying to incite sympathy, something that may or may not help him when having his little chat with Brenden Shanahan on Monday afternoon.
"I had a lot of speed going at him. I put my shoulder down, and as he shot the puck my shoulder hit him clearly," Rinaldo admitted. "Proof is in the pudding right there. I shouldn't have done it. There's no need for it. We're up 4-0, but it's part of the game."
Well, maybe it would have helped him had he not said that delivering a cheap shot to a defenseless player's head is part of the game.
Ruhwedel was helped to the room after the incident early in the third period and coach Ted Nolan told writers after the game that his rookie defenseman had suffered a concussion - and given the league's mandate on concussion protocol that a player be symptom free for a week before resuming play, it goes to figure that Ruhwedel's season is over with just 4 games left to play.
The 23-year-old Ruhwedel has played well in his 21 games with the Sabres this season, logging nearly 19 minutes per game and has one assist and a minus-three rating in his role as a stay-at-home blue liner.
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