Maybe LickGate is being blown out of proportion.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Thursday that the NHL contacted the Boston Bruins after Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs to ask that star forward Brad Marchand refrain from licking opposing players. A league spokesperson confirmed the report to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, who wrote Thursday that the message was communicated to Marchand through the series’ supervisor of officials, Mick McGeough.
Well, Marchand refuted the report Friday with a couple of simple replies to stories published about the supposed message.
The whole situation stems from Marchand licking the face of Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov in Game 1 after having kissed him on the cheek during a game earlier in the season.
It’s not hard to imagine the NHL having a problem with Marchand’s antics, especially since the Bruins’ pesky winger is known to cross the line from time to time. But there was no formal message, according to Marchand, so perhaps we haven’t seen the last of his lovey-dovey tactics.
