Penguins Assistant Coach Rick Tocchet On Zac Rinaldo: 'He's A Little Bit Of A Sideshow'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - Following the dirty hit Penguins defenseman Kris Letang took from notoriously dirty Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo, Penguins assistant coach Rick Tocchet talked with Joe Starkey of the Starkey and Mueller show about the hit and what he would have done if he were playing.
Tocchet detailed the actions he would take to defend his teammates if a guy like Rinaldo hit one of them like he did to Letang.
"For me, the 5-minute major power play, I'm going to make sure that you're a presence in front of the net," Tocchet said. "I want to make sure that if they're going to kill that off, that we're going to get chances and I'm going to be in front of the goalie. And second of all, you got to play hard against their best players. I probably would have played a little harder against [Claude] Giroux, [Jakub] Voracek. I'm not saying we didn't last night, I'm just saying that's the key to those situations is going hard at their best players. Not dirty, but make sure that they know that you're there."
Tocchet talked about Rinaldo's history saying, "He's a little bit of a sideshow; we know that. He's notorious for hitting from behind."
On the length of suspension Rinaldo should be given for his hit, Tocchet speculated that he'll get "six, seven, eight games for it maybe more," adding that "he'll probably get about 10 games."
Click the audio link below to hear more from Tocchet as he talks more about the Rinaldo hit and where his team is right now.