Kevin Bieksa Wants to Forget About Rich Peverley’s Slash, But Won’t Stop Talking About It

A day after Kevin Bieksa damned Rich Peverley to the deepest perils of karma, the Canucks forward has narrowed his focus to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Bieksa was ticked off at Peverley for a slashing incident during Saturday's Game 2, and he sent out a very public announcement through the media, one he hoped would reach across the NHL.

"There’s such a thing as karma," Bieksa said, according to the Ottawa Sun. "Whether it’s next year or the year after, [Peverley] will get something from somebody else. He got me on the back of the knee. Luckily, it’s OK."

Even Canucks coach Alain Vigneault got in on the action.

"Kevin didn’t get hit by Peverley; he got a cheap shot in the back of the knee, so that’s totally different," Vigneault said, according to NBC Sports. "He went down because of something that obviously you don’t want to see in the game."

The chippy play on the ice has become more than just a subplot in this series, with the Peverley slash following up the Alex Burrows bite in Game 1. Burrows wasn't suspended for chomping on Patrice Bergeron's finger, and Peverley wasn't penalized for slashing Bieksa, who cross-checked Peverley in the back a mere moment before. Of course, Bieksa and Vigneault didn't discuss the precursor.

Bieksa did touch on one thing Monday. He wanted to put it in the past, though he won't stop mentioning it.

"That's part of the game, I guess," Bieksa told NESN.com. "Obviously, you don't like it. I'm not happy about it, but it's a distant memory now. I have the most important game of my life coming up. At the end of the day, the important thing is to win the Stanley Cup. I'll take 10 of those to win the Cup."

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