BOSTON — Things got feisty in the Boston Bruins’ 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Monday.
Torey Krug exited the game five minutes into the second period after taking a hit from Tom Wilson in front of the Caps’ bench. The defenseman did not return to the game with what the team called an upper-body injury. Head coach Bruce Cassidy expects an update will be provided Tuesday.
Charlie McAvoy took an even bigger hit from T.J. Oshie in the final two minutes of the game, slamming into the boards in nearly the same exact spot as Krug. Cassidy said he “seems to be okay” but will get looked at as well.
Then there’s David Pastrnak, who appeared to get speared by Wilson in the final moments of the game. The sequence eventually ended in a brawl and Wilson getting a game misconduct.
And those are just a few of the plays that bothered the Bruins.
Despite snapping their three-game skid, Boston isn’t exactly happy about what transpired on the ice Monday night in terms of physicality. But Cassidy hopes the questionable plays will be looked at.
“There was a few incidents tonight, I imagine player safety might be a little bit busy,” Cassidy said. “I know if it was a guy like a (Brad) Marchand of the world, they’d be getting looked at, so there was a few spears and some of those. I don’t want to say it was clean or dirty because I have not looked at it and imagine it will get looked at. They’ll have to judge that accordingly, right?”
The players seemed to agree.
“I didn’t see every play, there definitely were a few slew foots out there, I know I’ve been victimized of that,” Brad Marchand said. “I don’t see everything out there. They play hard. They play physical. Things happen, we play that way. The league will take care of whatever they feel like they need to take care of and we’ll move on.”
"It's always a fun time of year to spend with your family and friends and eat and drink some good stuff. We'll enjoy it for sure."
Brad Marchand how he plans to spend the holidays. https://t.co/HHn3hZx7GO pic.twitter.com/YheOnjWF7r
— NESN (@NESN) December 24, 2019
“I’m going to leave that up to the officiating to decide … whether or not they’re crossing a line,” Brandon Carlo said. “I didn’t feel in danger by any means out there. It’s the style of play, they have some heavy bodies who are going to do that. It’s the little stuff behind the scenes where, like you said the spears and whatnot. I didn’t notice any of that myself, but you don’t want to see that.”
Brandon Carlo on the physicality of the game: “That’s the kind of style that they’re going to play when they’re down by a couple goals, something that you can respect” pic.twitter.com/7OY9gQv7Bc
— NESN (@NESN) December 24, 2019
Will NHL Player Safety address anything from Monday night? Only time will tell.
