Jacob Trouba went for it all … and nearly knocked himself out in the process.
The Rangers defenseman had the internet buzzing during Tuesday’s 4-3 double-overtime win over the Hurricanes in Game 2 for what some have deemed a dangerous play on Martin Necas.
Trouba attempted to de-skate Necas with a high forearm in the upper-body area, only to whiff and send himself crashing head-first into the boards while hitting Necas in the head with his foot.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a play where someone almost kills someone else twice and themselves once, but I’m not surprised it involved Trouba,” tweeted hockey analyst Pete Blackburn.
Trouba, the Rangers’ captain, has developed a reputation for rugged play that sometimes can cross the line and earn him scorn from other fan bases, and Tuesday’s attempted hit came quite close to entering that territory.
As Necas pushed the puck up the ice toward the boards, Trouba launched himself at the center from his right.
The slow-motion replay shows Trouba clearly throwing his left elbow toward the shoulder/head region of Necas, which could have been quite the bad scene.
Necas, showing cat-like reflexes, noticed Trouba coming and suddenly changed direction to fall the other way, which allowed his head to just miss connecting with Trouba’s elbow.
Thanks to Necas getting out of the way, Trouba then came up empty as he left his feet and instead crashed head-first into the boards.
But Necas didn’t escape all damage.
As Necas laid there, having just dodged the elbow, Trouba fell back to the ice and his right skate landed on the back of the forward’s head.
Neither player appeared hurt after the incident as play resumed.
Fans on the internet had mixed reactions to the play, with some focusing on the funnier element of Trouba attempting a monster hit only to strike out.
“Jacob Trouba went FLYING trying to blow up Martin Necas 😳💀,” the @GinoHard_ X account posted.
“This Trouba sequence is straight out of NHL Hitz 😳,” user @BradyTrett posted.
The Pardon My Take account compared it to the famous viral video of a man jumping toward a judge.
Others took greater issue with it.
Former NHLer Jordan Schmaltz criticized Trouba for “chin hunting.”
“This play by #NYR Trouba is so insane. Jimmity Christmas haha. I love a solid hit. Maybe even being a little criminal.. But this is full on chin hunting,” he tweeted. “Look at how he chicken wings his elbow for a last ditch effort to tag Necas on the button. Great chute pull by #88 of #CauseChaos. Whether that was a planned business decision or he blew a tire or a combo. Helluva move.”
Barstool’s Ryan Whitney said Trouba is lucky he didn’t connect or he might not have played the rest of the series.
“Trouba train just tried to put his elbow through Necas jugular,” he posted. “That could have been a 5 gamer if he connected.”
