PHILADELPHIA -- Zac Rinaldo didn't really shy away from his hit on Drew Doughty tonight. The video speaks for itself. For the video impaired, here's the quote:

From my vantage point? He came across the trolley tracks. Head down. Clean hit, shoulder-to-shoulder. So that's about it. 

Yep, that is about it. It was a clean hit, even though it took Doughty, who has a history of concussion issues, out of the game with what the Kings have deemed an upper-body injury. Hopefully it's not a concussion, but it was a clean hit. (He could have maybe -- maybe -- picked up a two minute minor for charging, but that's about it.) Can't blame Rinaldo too much for that.

In fact, Rinaldo really deserves some credit tonight. He answered for the hit -- as silly as it is to have to answer for a clean hit -- as soon as it happened by fighting Dustin Penner, and when heavyweight Kevin Westgarth came after him again later in the game, he didn't take the bait. He picked up a two and a 10 on the play for something that happened near the bench, but Westgarth did basically push him into the Kings bench. 

Whether you agree with the usefulness of a big hit like that which injured a premier player , the fact of the matter is that by the rule in place today, it's clean. And Rinaldo made his impact on this game known in delivering it, without hurting his hockey team. That's the only way he's going to stay on this team.