A Dougie Hamilton Late Hit On Danton Heinen Caps Rough Return To Boston
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Dougie Hamilton left Boston in 2014 as a young, skilled defenseman who was still looking to create a firm NHL identity. He returned to Boston in the 2019 postseason as a significant contributor to a conference finalist, hopeful to buzz through his old team en route to reaching a Stanley Cup Final.
It's a homecoming that has not gone well for Hamilton.
The 6-foot-6 defenseman watched from the penalty box in Game 1 as the Bruins scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the third period, after Hamilton was deemed to have delivered an unnecessary hit. (He personally disagreed with that assessment.) Shortly thereafter, he hurt his team's chances of answering that goal by committing another penalty, and the Bruins ended up scoring two more goals to win 5-2. (He likewise disagreed with the referee's judgment on that call as well.)
Game 2 may have lacked the dramatic storyline of the penalty box perspective for Hamilton, but it was nevertheless a negative day all around for the 25-year-old.
Right from the opening moments of the game, the Boston crowd was on Hamilton's back, derisively chanting "DOUG-IE" during breaks and booing whenever No. 19 in white touched the puck. In the second period, with Carolina on a power play, Hamilton tripped up Brad Marchand, who was on a shorthanded rush, but avoided getting sent to the box for this one. (He was not asked for his assessment of this non-call.)
At one point, just after the midway point of the game, Hamilton carried the puck into the Boston zone and tripped. He lost the puck as he fell flat on his face, thereby delighting the crowd that had been heckling him all series.
The stumble led to one of Hamilton's team-leading three giveaways on the day, but it was still a mostly uneventful afternoon for Hamilton.
That was until the Bruins scored to make the score 6-0 early in the third period. It was at that time when Hamilton made his mark on this game, and it was not in a very good way.
Just after a two-minute power play which saw the Hurricanes land zero shots on goal, and just after Hamilton made a tape-to-tape pass to the wrong team, Hamilton raced to get back into his own zone to prevent a breakaway bid for Patrice Bergeron, who had just escaped the box. Hamilton succeeded in that regard, but despite his best effort, Hamilton couldn't completely block Bergeron's passing lane to Danton Heinen.
Heinen flipped a backhand through Petr Mrazek, but he didn't have much time to soak in the glory. That's because Hamilton came skating over and walloped the Bruins forward with a late hit behind the Carolina net.
Hamilton didn't go to the penalty box for that high, late hit (possibly a cross-check) to end what was a frustrating sequence for him. But he did get dropped to the ice by Torey Krug, a man who stands about 9 inches shorter than Hamilton. Considering the score at the time, that may have been a worse fate.
Hamilton has zero points in the two losses, he's been in the penalty box for a game-winning goal against, he gave the puck away to lead to another Bruins goal, and he compounded it by delivering a reckless hit that is sure to draw some extra attention when the series picks back up on Tuesday. The rough two games in Boston were a continuation of Hamilton's quiet stretch, dating back to his two-goal game against Washington. In the 10 games since then, he has just 3 points (1-2-3), and he's now been held without a point in six of his last seven games. That's after starting the playoffs with two goals and two assists in the opening three games.
This week has obviously not been Hamilton's first time back in Boston since the trade, but with a trip to the Cup Final on the line, every emotion and feeling sent Hamilton's way from the home crowd -- and from his former captain and defensive partner -- has been amplified and magnified.
And so, with this series heading back to Raleigh, Dougie has to be a bit conflicted. Surely, he wants to win the series. Surely, he wants to win a Stanley Cup.
But to do that, he'll have to go back to Boston for Game 5, and possibly again for Game 7. And there's no way he'd be looking forward to that. The experience this past week has simply not been enjoyable.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
