Julien

BOSTON — Bruins head coach Claude Julien didn’t want to comment on Vancouver center Maxim Lapierre’s decision to taunt Patrice Bergeron by sticking his fingers in the Bruins center’s face during Saturday night’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

But when it comes to Lapierre, Julien just can’t help himself. So when asked about the sportsmanship of the whole thing, the Bruins bench boss had this to say:

“I can’t really talk about their team. I can talk about mine. Because I don’t handle those players. I don’t deal with those players on a 1-on-1 basis. It’s not really for me to, I guess, comment on it.

“If it’s acceptable for them, so be it. Certainly wouldn’t be acceptable on our end. You guys know me well enough to know that. So there’s not much I can say about that.”

“The NHL rules on something and they decide to make a mockery of it, that’s totally up to them. If that’s their way of handling things, so be it. Again, we can’t waste our time on that kind of stuff. We really have to focus on what we have to do.”

The taunt was obviously a reference to Alex Burrows bite on Bergeron in Game 1. The league deemed it didn’t have conclusive evidence of intent to suspend Burrows. So instead Burrows enjoys a three-point night and Lapierre taunts the player that was victimized by the bite.

If the on-ice taunt wasn’t enough, captain Henri Sedin filmed this introduction for NBC for Game 2.

I don’t quite get why the Canucks wouldn’t just thank the league for going easy on their biter and move on. But that’s just me.

Published By Mon. June 6, 2011 12:02 pm EDT