The recently promoted Rick Rypien had a big night for Vancouver Friday, while the Rangers broke an 0-15 power play drought with 3 PP goals in a 3-1 home win over Washington.  And in my typical, day late, dollar short, here’s a serious hit from Thursday’s action, one that resulted in the following action by the league, as detailed by the Canadian Press :

Jesse Boulerice is suspended for 25 games and only the good fortune that kept victim Ryan Kesler from suffering a serious injury allowed the Philadelphia Flyers tough guy to escape a more severe punishment.As it stands, the verdict handed down Friday by NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell on Boulerice’s vicious cross-check to the face of the Vancouver Canucks centre earlier this week matches the longest suspension handed out in the NHL for an on-ice incident.

Kesler, who practiced Thursday, played Friday night in Vancouver’s 5-2 victory at Edmonton.

Last season, winger Chris Simon of the New York Islanders was also suspended 25 games for his two-handed stick attack to the face of Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers. Simon is still serving that suspension.

“He decided to do something that resulted in a bad action but not a terribly bad result and he was lucky,” Campbell said of Boulerice on a conference call. “If it was a worse result, maybe there would be more than me looking into it today and that wouldn’t be good for any of us.”

The reference there is to the mess that followed Todd Bertuzzi’s infamous attack on Steve Moore in 2004 and Marty McSorley’s stick-swing at Donald Brashear’s head in 2000. Criminal charges followed both times.

“In Chris Simon’s situation and the situation with Jesse Boulerice, if they cause injury we’re into a whole heap of problems,” said Campbell. “Not only the player but the teams and our league and our sport. …

“We saw what transpired under the Bertuzzi (and) McSorley situations when there is injury, it never stops. So I would hope players would understand and see what could happen and what can come of these things and that they have to control themselves.”