Colby Armstrong readily admitted Monday that he plays hard, he plays an in-your-face style and he will try to finish his checks.
But Armstrong defended himself in the face of repeated questions about his hit Sunday on Ottawa Senators forward Patrick Eaves, saying that he's no head hunter.
"I'm not looking to go out there and hurt anyone, if that's what you guys are thinking," Armstrong said to reporters. "I mean, I just try to play the game hard and finish my checks like anyone else does. It was just a play where he came around the net, and I just tried to meet at the post and make a hit. You don't want to see anyone get hurt. Hopefully he's all right. But I have to play hard and play in-your-face."
Eaves, who suffered a concussion, was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was moving his hands as he was being wheeled off. He did not return to the game, but he did not go to the hospital and was walking around and talking to teammates afterward.
No penalty was called on the play.
Senators coach Bryan Murray told reporters after the game that he felt the hit was clean.
"I read all the articles when (Senators forward) Chris Neil hit (the Buffalo Sabres') Chris Drury (in February) and it was the same type of hit," Murray said. "It was a kid trying to make contact. (Eaves) had his head down a little bit. He got driven with the shoulder, that's part of hockey. I feel bad with (Eaves) getting hurt the way he did, and I know you'll write extensive articles about how tough Armstrong was and how that shouldn't be allowed, but we felt the same way when Neil hit Drury.
"It was a fair hit, a hockey hit and we live with it accordingly."
Eaves will not play tonight.
Penguins coach Michel Therrien, who also coached Armstrong in Wilkes-Barre, defended his forward.
"Colby's not a dirty player," Therrien said. "He's a hard-nosed kid. We saw a guy get hurt (Sunday), and nobody likes that. Players don't like it, coaches don't like it, fans don't like it. But sometimes it's going to happen, as long as it's fair and clean. That was a hard hit, yes, but Armstrong didn't want to hurt the guy. He just wanted to finish his check."
