Two former NHLers call out 'dirty' hit from Acciari on Slafkovsky.

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari is currently facing a wave of criticism after a hit he delivered to Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, and it does raise questions about how the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety will respond to the situation.

On Saturday night, the Penguins welcomed the Canadiens to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and for the majority of the game things were civil, at least relatively speaking. Things would change drastically however in the final three minutes of the game's third period when the aforementioned Acciari would deliver a questionable hit to the aforementioned Slafkovsky, catching the former first overall pick up high and perhaps even delivering an elbow in the process.

First, here's a look at the incident in question:

This would lead to a questionable hit from Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj, who would go knee on knee with Acciari as time expired in the game, which in turn led to even more fireworks after the final horn had blown between these two teams.

Now I'm sure there will be a bunch of differing opinions on this matter but a pair of NHL players have already spoken out about the hit from Acciari, with both expressing their displeasure at the situation. The first is former NHLer Kevin Bieksa, who flat out called out Acciari following the game for what he describes as a dirty play.

"In hockey that's a dirty hit," said Bieksa on Hockey Night in Canada. "We all know what's happening, two guys are racing for the puck, they are both reaching, and the guy who is supposed to get the puck first just leaves it and hits the guy. That is a bit of a dirty hit."

Former NHLer Luke Gazdic was slightly less critical of the hit from Acciari, but didn't like what he saw either.

"It's a reverse hit from Acciari and you'll see he kind of gets his arm/elbow up," said Gazdic. "I don't like it from that angle."

Whether or not the league's department of player safety will look to punish any of the players involved in the rough stuff late in the third period remains to be seen, and we likely won't get an answer one way or another until a little later today.