BOSTON — The Boston Bruins are pointing fingers in the Stanley Cup finals, and coach Claude Julien is dismayed.
Bruins forwards Mark Recchi and Milan Lucic both taunted the Vancouver Canucks by putting fingers near the mouths of their opponents during Game 3 on Monday night.
Recchi and Lucic disappointed Julien, who said Vancouver's Maxim Lapierre was "making a mockery" of the game with a similar taunt in Game 2.
"I don't want that stuff in our game," Julien said after the Bruins' 8-1 victory. "I think we have to be better than that. Emotions are running high. It was a very physical game. There was a lot of stuff going on. You can live with that kind of stuff, but the other stuff, I don't want to see."
This elaborate taunting exchange began with Alex Burrows' apparent bite on Boston forward Patrice Bergeron's finger in the series opener. After Burrows escaped suspension, Lapierre taunted Bergeron during a scrum in Game 2 by putting his finger near Bergeron's mouth, daring him to bite it.
Less than 8 minutes into the first period of Game 3, Recchi skated up to Lapierre after a whistle and put his finger right to Lapierre's lips for several seconds.
Lucic then dropped his glove and put his finger right at Burrows' mouth midway through the contentious third period while linesmen separated both players.
"I said [Monday] morning that I wouldn't accept it on our team," Julien said. "It happened a couple of times [Monday night]. They've been told that I don't want any of that stuff. You've got to live by your words. It was disappointing for me to see that happen after what I said this morning, but part of it is my fault for not bringing it up [enough] to the guys. They did it. Emotions got the better of them."