A closer look at the Bruins-Canadiens fights
Sunday night’s loss to the Canadiens was tough on the Bruins and their fans, but the most upsetting call of the game wasn’t a called penalty, but rather one that was not called.
Alexi Emelin‘s second period uncalled cross check on Tyler Seguin ultimately led to Zdeno Chara fighting Emelin. Chara then spent 17 minutes off the ice after getting a 10-minute misconduct, five minutes for fighting and two minutes for instigating. With Chara out, the Bruins practically handed the Canadiens the win.
“I didn’t think I would get 17 minutes,’’ said Chara. “If he throws down, I’m thinking maybe I get two and five. But, I make the decision and I have to live with it. Obviously, we have to protect each other.’’
The bad boys of Boston were given that nickname for a reason, and Sunday night proved it. The Bruins were very physical with the Habs during the game, and it wasn’t just Chara. There were several times that a Canadien would push or shove a Bruins player to try to get them to fight. The Habs didn’t seem to want the responsibility of instigating, but they were looking for a fight.
Milan Lucic pulled out some moves against Canadien player Brandon Prust. A fight between Adam McQuaid and Lars Eller by the net was broken up before it started by the referees. Meanwhile near the neutral zone, Lucic and Prust got down to business.
Brad Marchand and P.K. Subban also had a little disagreement. Subban tried to lay Marchand out with a hip check, but Marchand took the high road and decided not to fight him, even though Subban was provoking him. These two players have a built up history. On Dec. 17, 2010, Subban dropped Marchand with an open-ice hit at the Bell Centre. On Oct. 27, 2011, Subban and Marchand fought at the Garden.
Claude Julien said he was also upset with Subban, claiming Subban embellishes every hit.
“Tonight, as everybody saw, there was a lot of embellishment,” said Julien after the game. “This is embarrassing for our game, the embellishing. They’ve got 100 power plays so far. It’s pretty obvious why. We’re trying to clean that out of our game. It’s got to be done soon. Because it’s not about tonight. It’s about the game. The embellishment embarrasses our game. We’ve got to be better about that. It’s pretty obvious when P.K. gets hit, he throws himself into the glass and holds his head. You know what? We start calling those things for embellishment, maybe teams stop doing it. Until we take charge of that, it’s going to be an issue.”
After Sunday night, the Bruins are 7-2-1 for games with at least one fight. Let’s just hope the Bruins can get back on the winning side of the game on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.
