Assault.
We had a legitimate 'Assault.' moment in Game 4 of the Blues-Avs series
As those of us who are terminally online know, "Assault." has become a phrase synonymous with NFL insider Adam Schefter, who tweeted that word followed by a period—and only that word followed by a period—after Myles Garrett swung his Mason Rudolph's own helmet at Rudolph during a Thursday night game in 2019. "Assault." has become a great running joke on social media for any minor or major sports infraction since.
On Monday night in St. Louis, Schefty's famous phrase may have been legitimately applicable. Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri, who has become public enemy No. 1 in STL for (accidentally) running into Blues goalie Jordan Binnington in Game 3, was, quite literally, attacked by two separate players within seconds of each other during Game 4.
Kadri, who already had a goal and two assists in the series, plus some rent-free property in the Blues' heads, scored the go-ahead goal in the second period of Game 4. Not long after, while skating back to the bench, Kadri "crossed paths" with Blues winger David Perron, and it was on like Donkey Kong after that. Fellow Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich gave Kadri a nice cross check in the back, and then Perron piled on:
Assault.
We are, of course, half-joking. We understand how playoff hockey works, and that Kadri needs to answer for knocking out Binnington in Game 3, even though it was a Blues defenseman that may have knocked Kadri into the net:
This was just a good, hard playoff hockey play that unfortunately resulted in a collision that led to an injury. That said, accident or not, the Blues have to defend Binnington, and defend him they did in Game 4. The problem is, it may have just ignited Kadri, who went on to score two more goals for a hat trick in the Avs' 6-3 win, which has now given them a 3-1 series lead heading back to Colorado:
Could be night night time in St. Louis.