Thanks to Keith for the video.

During the first period of tonight’s game in Dallas, Stars defenseman Marc Fistric left his feet for the hit on Nino Niederreiter that you see above. Fistric received a minor for roughing for the ensuing tussle with Matt Martin, who received a double minor for his trouble. There was no penalty on the hit itself which is very hard to believe (that sound you hear is palms smacking foreheads all across Long Island).

Fistric clearly left his feet — the video was helpfully paused on-air by MSG to emphasize this — and clearly made initial contact with Niederreiter’s head. Leaving his feet and making contact with the head should have been a minor penalty. That none was handed out for the hit is, to be completely clear here, asleep at the wheel officiating. It’s hard to tell whether Fistric led with an elbow or a shoulder, my two cents is that it was somewhere in between. A better camera angle would be nice. Fistric should certainly be getting a call from Brendan Shanahan for this one.

What you don’t see in the video is the aftermath. That would be Niederreiter trying to get up, and failing, having to be helped off the ice by two teammates as he was very woozy. It’s an obvious concussion, injury speculation be damned. The Islanders are now left with the minimum number of healthy forwards on their roster, with Niederreiter and the broken ankled Jay Pandolfo also on the active roster.