BOSTON — Bruins forward Shawn Thornton got a little carried away Saturday night, and he owned up to that Sunday morning.
Thornton was fined by the NHL on Sunday after spraying water in the face of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban late in the Bruins’ Game 5 win over Montreal at TD Garden. Shortly after news of the fine broke, Thornton met with the media and tried to explain himself.
“I obviously got caught up in the moment,” he admitted. “The fine, I’ll pay the fine. I obviously agree with what the league did there. I’ll pay the fine and move on.
“I’m sorry that the silly incident kind of overshadowed how my teammates played and the great win and how good the series has been. I think that there’s definitely more important things we can be focusing on. I got caught up in the moment, and I probably shouldn’t have done that. I’ll move on, get ready for Game 6 and hopefully have a good showing.”
Bruins coach Claude Julien declined to comment Saturday night, saying he didn’t see the play and wouldn’t speak about it until seeing a replay. By Sunday, though, he had seen the play in question and wasn’t thrilled with it.
“As a coach, you always want to support your players, but there’s certain things you can’t support,” Julien said Sunday. “I don’t think I can support Shawn on those actions. To me, I don’t think we like seeing our players doing that. Whether he got caught up in the game or whatever, to me he’s gotta own up to it, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
