Should Noel Acciari face discipline for hitting Robert Bortuzzo’s fist with his face?

Hockey is a physical game during the regular season. During the playoffs, the intensity level goes up a notch. During the Stanley Cup Final, it goes through the roof.

Sunday night’s Game 6 saw plenty of physicality both ways, but things boiled over late in the third between Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and Bruins forward Noel Acciari.

The incident:

Difficult to watch. In this clip, you can see the Bruins continue a trend from this series: they simply keep putting their heads in the way of St. Louis players.

In this clip, Bortuzzo is clearly trying to stretch his arm, probably due to cramping from a long hockey game. Acciari selfishly puts his head in Bortuzzo’s general area, and then delivers a forceful blow to Bortuzzo’s hand with his face.

As you can see, Bortuzzo is clearly distraught over these events. He immediately leaves the scene to rest his hand, preventing Acciari from inflicting further damage. Thankfully, his hand appears to be OK.

Too many Blues players have been impacted by Bruins’ players heads in this series. Matt Grzelcyk selfishly put his head between Oskar Sundqvist and the glass.

Marcus Johansson had no regard for Ivan Barbashev’s shoulder, ramming his head off of it with complete disregard for common decency.

Simply put, it needs to stop. Bruins players can’t keep attempting to injure St. Louis players by having heads. It can’t be allowed.

The league needs to clamp down on this epidemic before it gets even worse. Here’s to hoping the officials do the right thing.