When the Anaheim Ducks return home Friday night for Game 5 of their first-round NHL playoff series against the Nashville Predators, they will get back forward Bobby Ryan, who was suspended for Games 3 and 4. However, Anaheim will be without forward Jarkko Ruutu, as he was suspended for Game 5, for delivering a late hit in Game 4 to Predators' forward Martin Erat. Ruutu was assessed a minor penalty for interference on this play:
"To me it's absurd that there's even mention of a hearing when a guy has a shoulder-on-shoulder bodycheck and the player passes the puck and they're saying it's so many tenths of a second that they allow," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle told the Los Angeles Times. "That this was two-tenths or three-tenths of a second past the allowable point, it's kind of mindboggling at times."
Erat did not join Nashville on their trip to Anaheim for Game 5. Game 5 has a start time of 7 p.m. PDT, and will be televised by Prime Ticket.
For more news and information about the Ducks, or about this first round playoff series, be sure to read the SB Nation blog Anaheim Calling.