Ovechkin suspended for two games: Does the NHL have a punishment problem?

Ovechkin leaves the ice after checking Brian Campbell. (AP Photo)

Alexander Ovechkin was suspended for two games for his hit on Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell.

You can practically hear the keyboards tapping as every weasly reporter/blogger with an agenda to push is no doubt jumping forward with the predictable "Ovechkin is dirty" drivel.  And while Ovechkin should have held back as he saw Brian Campbell had his back turned, you cannot tell me there was actual intent to injure.

However on another play yesterday, there was absolute and undeniable intent to injure on this disgustingly dirty play by Steve Downie to buckle Sidney Crosby's leg with a "slewfoot" move. There was no suspension for Downie on this play.

Would you send a guy only to jail only for a week because he was trying to kill someone and fortunately missed? No you would not, but the NHL by suspending only Ovechkin and not Downie seems to forming the distinction that it's only a suspendable play if the guy getting targeted is actually taken out and injured.As for Ovechkin, well I can actually understand the two-game suspension. Alex does need to understand  that he can't go full speed at guys and then hit them when they have their back turned to him. That is a clear no-no in this league but the NHL also very badly officiates itself when they fail to punish Cooke and Downie for two far more malicious plays.
So let's get this straight NHL, you're suspending a player who made a bad decision,  but you're allowing Steve Downie to return Scott-free without even a fine to his name after he intentionally tried to take out a star player? That is ridiculous, and as Crosby returned to game action while Brian Campbell left the game and could be out for the season, you wonder how much differently the situation would have handled had Crosby, the NHL's "golden boy," been at risk of being out for the season instead of Campbell. Let's just say that I suspect the suspension for Downie would have been a lot longer the two games. 

Of course we have to drop that conclusion completely on its face when we look at the fact that Matt Cooke, after sending Marc Savard to the ice with a blindside elbow to the head, received absolutely no suspension on a play that will likely end Savard's season.

Hey NHL, what the hell is going on? Where's the consistency and how exactly are you dolling on punishment? Are you picking numbers out of  or is it a more thorough process? Is Colin Campbell making his interns drink dixiecups filled with whisky then having them throw darts at a wall to decide how many games these guys are suspended, or does it somehow involve a Ouija Board?

Caps notes: The sad thing about the Ovechkin hit and all the media hullabaloo surrounding it is that it really takes away from what was one of the more remarkable comebacks in the NHL this year. For 40 minutes yesterday the Capitals were as lifeless as a fish out of water, then in a sudden under three minute span they go all Jack Bauer on us and instantly start tearing up everything around them. Brooks Laich, Nicklas Backstrom, and Eric Fehr finally all got the memo and moved into the high traffic area near the crease to score three goals in under three minutes. It was truly remarkable!

Oh, and the average NHL highlight I'd say is usually six seconds of a guy just finishing the play with a nice shot in the offensive zone.  But seriously, on Backstrom's overtime winner, you really need to watch the entirety of the 30 seconds leading up to it.

Not only did Nicklas steal the puck from one of the more remarkable players in the league in Jonathan Toews, just as he went toward the middle of Jose Theodore's crease. It would have been a shot that had a great chance of being a goal, but Backstrom stole it from Toews in the last second and would finish the play by coming back coast-to-coast on a toe-drag move to the middle of the net that so faked defender Brent Seabrook out that he fell to the ice. Backstrom then shot the puck by Antii Niemi a split second before Duncan Keith could knock the puck away. If you watch this play and think the Capitals #1 goal this off-season needs to be anything other than to sign Nicklas Backstrom to a long-term deal, you might be crazy.