Brandon Prust is doing some backpedaling.
The Montreal Canadiens winger apologized Tuesday for comments he made regarding referee Brad Watson following the Habs’ Game 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Prust tore into Watson after the 6-2 beatdown, claiming that the ref provoked him and “tries to play God,” during his emotional and frustrated rant.
“First off, I’d like to apologize to Brad Watson and the rest of the officials in the NHL. … It was uncalled for,” Prust told reporters after the team’s practice, per ESPN.com. “We got in a heated exchange and that should have stayed between us. I’ve always played by the code on and off the ice, I’m a pretty honest player. On Sunday I crossed the line.”
Prust’s postgame meltdown came after he collected 31 penalty minutes in the loss, which included a third-period fight with Braydon Coburn and a ten-minute misconduct for throwing his elbow pad into the Tampa Bay bench while he was being escorted off the ice.
“It was tough, it was emotional,” Prust said, via ESPN.com. “I had just gotten in a fight, we had just lost 6-2 and five minutes later I was doing interviews. I wasn’t myself. My emotions were — my heart was beating, I was agitated — and I shouldn’t have been doing the interviews. …
“If I could go back and redo it, I would,” he added. “But you can’t. We’ve got to live with it, and we focus on the road ahead.”
The road ahead is Game 3 on Tuesday night, as the Canadiens will look to earn their first win in the series, which shifts to Tampa Bay.
UPDATE (6:48 p.m. ET): Prust has been fined $5,000 by the NHL for his comments directed at Watson.
“Brandon Prust’s post-game comments were both baseless and demeaning of a referee whose 20-year career in the League has been marked by professionalism, integrity and a high degree of respect from players, coaches and management,” NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said.
Photo via Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports Images
