Bruins’ Boychuk has no regrets, just a black eye from Habs’ White

Boychuk/By S. Bradley

WILMINGTON, Mass. — If Hollywood make-up artists created a closed-up shiner on a actor’s face that resembled Johnny Boychuk’s left eye right now, they’d be fired for overdoing it.

But Boychuk’s swollen left black eye is real, courtesy of Montreal’s Ryan White from a fight in the first period of Boston’s 4-1 loss to the Canadiens. Boychuk attempted an open-ice hit on Montreal’s P.K. Subban, but missed. White took exception to what he thought was an attempted leg-on-leg blow.

“I didn’t really want to put my knee out there. So I kind of just fell over the top,” said Boychuk about the play after practice today at Ristuccia Arena. “And so as soon as I got up, I was fighting already.”

Boychuk said he wished he had more time to get his gloves off. Despite the mark White left on him, Boychuk called it “a good fight.”

Here’s another look at it: