Mark Borowiecki concusses Bruins rookie Urho Vaakanainen

By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com

The 'Welcome to the NHL' moment comes for every rookie.

But for Boston Bruins rookie defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, that moment came by way of an ugly, blatant elbow to the face courtesy of Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki in the first period of Tuesday's 4-1 victory.

Gliding towards the net in pursuit of a potential loose puck, Vaakanainen found himself in front of the Ottawa crease. It was there that Borowiecki looked behind him, saw Vaakanainen there, and threw a cheap elbow backwards.

The hit went unpenalized (shocking considering the other nonsense and garbage called all night), and while Vaakanainen would stick around for a little bit, his night was over by the second period, as the Bruins officially ruled him out with a concussion.

After the game, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, whose team had already lost David Backes to a concussion on a hit from the Oilers' Matthew Benning earlier in the road trip, gave a blunt assessment of the play.

"It's a flying elbow," Cassidy said of the incident. "Listen, I am not in the heat of the battle [but] it looked fairly deliberate. But that’s not for me to decide. It’s unfortunate for Urho, he’s concussed, but at the end of the day that will move up the food chain and someone will have to make a decision whether it’s suspendible or not.”