Peverley heads home, Marchand doesn’t head to principal’s office for Bruins
Peverley/By S. Bradley
Before departing Montreal for Winnipeg and a game with the Jets Friday night, Bruins head coach Claude Julien reported today that Rich Peverley has returned to Boston to have his knee evaluated.
Peverley was injured four minutes into the third period of Boston’s 4-3 shootout win over the Canadiens when he was hit by defenseman Hal Gill while crossing his own blue line with the puck. It’s doubtful Peverley would be able to rejoin the Bruins for the Jets game.
Even if Josh Hennessy, a one-time 30-goal scorer in the AHL, proves a solid replacement, this latest injury underscores the Bruins need to add more depth up front before the trade deadline. Their offense was already sputtering without Nathan Horton. Now Peverley could miss some time. Hennessy scored 15 goals in 49 games this season for the Providence farm club.
Luckily for the Bruins, they should be only missing Horton and Peverley in Winnipeg. The NHL announced that Marchand would not face supplemental discipline, or even a hearing, for his clip on Montreal’s Alexei Emelin at the end of the second period. Marchand was assessed a two-minute minor.
On his Twitter feed, NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan wrote the following:
“Like all penalties on the ice, not all “clips” rise to the level of supplemental discipline. This check by Marchand was delivered to the upper thigh/hip and not the knee area. We don’t like it, but not SD [supplemental discipline].”
Shanahan doesn’t say this, but that Emelin wasn’t hurt probably factored into this decision. I agree that a two-minute minor was sufficient.
Of course, if you’re the Bruins, you have to wonder how much you can trust Marchand. Extra punishment or not, he put his status at risk to make a hit as the horn was sounding almost 200 feet from his own goal. He gave the Canadiens a power play to start the third period, which turned into the Habs’ period with a 10-2 shots edge and the two goals that tied the game. In the past, Julien has reined in Marchand by cutting his ice time. That wasn’t the case last night, and injuries might not allow for a benching, but the Bruins coach is going to have to get the pesky winger’s attention again before he truly costs his team a game.
I’m not a league commissioner or anything but distance from the boards on boarding plays could be a factor. Thornton was very close to the boards when he got hit so the impact, though hard as hell, wasn’t as bad as being launched into the boards like a lawn dart.
As for Emelin…he always hits with mean intentions. I’d say he’s one of the hardest hitters in the league.
That being said, he usually does it within the rules.
bigjim, where to begin.
“john i could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong” – isn’t a sarcastic way of saying I’m wrong. I could agree with you that it was sarcastic, but then we’d both be wrong. In discussing a play in which we have differing opinions and I bring up the actual rule and you respond with “no, you’re wrong” does not in any way inform the discussion.
As for the Thornton hit, your memory must be failing you, because Thornton did go down actually. And as I said to RD, the difference between a Major and a Minor is purely at the discretion, and based on the violence of the collision. Perhaps I was a bit overzealous for saying 5+10 since it didnt result in an injury that we know of, but I thought it was a very malicious dangerous hit.
On the Ference hit. I thought a suspension was warranted. It was a very dangerous play. I thought that the suspension was harsh given all the qualifiers used by Shanahan in the video. My exact quote was:
“Absolute joke that Ference got suspended. Even in the NHL video, the description was basically, it was a boarding penalty. So all boarding penalties are now 3 games? No intent, no injury, no history. 3 games? Absurd”
You even said that “ference play was absolutely a penalty but 3 games is crazy.”
john
5+10 for the hit on thornton? you must be joking. he didn’t even go down. it’s boarding to be sure but there was a time when a simple boarding play was 2 minute penalty. how did you feel about the hit where ference was suspended?
crying for suspensions and major penalties when your guys are hit and crying over them when it is your guys being suspended is getting totally out of hand in the nhl.
john that’s a sarcastic way of saying you’re wrong. there is no reason involved. perhaps your understanding of reason and logic is as good as your understanding of dirty and clean hockey plays.
to say he doesn’t go low too often is being blinded by the laundry. or in simple terms being a homer. not acknowledging marchand’s history of borderline plays shows no reason at all, hockey or otherwise.
is it really worth getting this worked up about that i simply pointed out marchand does this too often?
Agree RD, on balance I think the Powerplays shook out pretty evenly and didn’t impact the outcome. Although with your numbers its worth remembering that 2 of those PPs came from 1 penalty (high stick that drew blood) and another was an automatic from a delay of game.
What irritates me more is the dangerousness of the hits which I mentioned that went uncalled. Maybe those powerplays don’t result in goals or affect the outcome of the game, but penalties are also in place to act as deterrents. If Emelin gets 5+10 for his hit on Thornton (agree to disagree, I think violence of the hit merited a Major, but the Major/Minor line is very blurry on boarding) maybe he won’t do it again and potentially hurt someone else.
This isn’t always an indicator but for the record, the Bruins had 6 power plays to Montreal’s 4.
Perhaps the calls could have been better but I wouldn’t call the outcome of penalties a travesty by any stretch.
Sarcasm is fun Kevin! And with Peverley now out 4-6 weeks, I’m ecstatic that there was no penalty called on the play, and even happier the league didn’t look at it!
Hey John i agree with you man the officiating in Montreal Boston games is a joke.yOU CAN’T TOUCH A Montreal player the so called fans in Montreal scream blue Murder and the poor refs almost poops himself trying to get his hand in the air to call a pentley on the big ole bad bruin its a joke and the nhl needs to look at some game tape and wake up
Good point bigjim. Sound hockey reasoning.
john i could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.
So you’re saying Julien has to get Marchand’s attention before he costs his team a game? In the Vancouver-Boston game that happened on Jan 7, things weren’t the same after Marchand got ejected. Think this has already happened. The Bruins havn’t been the same ever since.
I know John. I’m not hating…I could just see it from your tone. Some people you can reason with, some are just rocks of certainty.
44.1 Clipping – Clipping is the act of throwing the body, from any direction, across or below the knees of an opponent.
Not Clipping.
And yes, I am unrelenting and uncompromising.
Read John’s post big Jim. He’s unrelenting and uncompromising. You’re not going to get through.
i’m sorry john, but calling it “perfectly clean” is a stretch. he targeted the guy low. people around here never even called that borderline when it was ulf samuelson.
Unusual to see so much bickering after a much needed win.
The problem with Marchand’s hit is that he was told not to clip people anymore and he went for another one. Emelin tried to side step it and the damage wasn’t as bad. In fact, the 2 minute penalty is fine in my book because of that. Of course, the problem is that Marchand instinctively went for it which probably means he’ll do it again…and again. Afterall, in his mind, clipping a knee is a defensive move.
As for cheering for Chara being on the ice like that..what can I say? This guy is seriously public enemy #1 in Montreal. The classless (which it’s no secret that they go to games) will cheer for something like that. But, from the point of view of a classless person, what exactly could Chara do to make up for the Pacioretty incident? Nothing. So I’m not saying it’s right but don’t be surprised if certain Montreal fans will cheer for anything bad that ever happens to Chara. The fact that you guys are surprised surprises me.
For me, I could care less. The FANS were the problem here. I thought the Canadiens (the team) showed some dignity. It could not have been easy for Pleks to approach Chara given the city’s mentality and the fact that some players and most Montreal fans still think the Pacioretty incident was intentional.
As for Emelin on Thornton, yeah, that was boarding. He caught him in the back of the shoulder and the numbers. But, there was a time when boarding was a 2 minute penalty. Since we had a diagonal trajectory on that hit, that would be a minor penalty to me.
As for Gill, I’m sick of the guy. I’ve hated his slow play from day one and getting that knee out on Peverly was just a lazy way to try to stop him. He was sloppy on the first goal when his pocket was picked and then he screened Price. He could be a trade deadline acquisition for the Bruins. Do you guys have any spare buckets of pucks we could take in return?
My take I can not figure out if we over achieved in November/December or if this is all we got. The Rangers are the Bruins of last year no doubt. Lindquisr is Thomas last year and we know what that kind of goal tending does. As far as the Habs game I thought we were out hit, pushed around and Charra and Thomas are just off. I know what Tim did in the shoot out but during the 60 min game he has become a very average tender these last two months. Really lets in some soft balls all the time and Charra just might be declining. The only thing I know about the B’s is we better get the first goal if not change the channel. Going off some prior posts about Krejec iy has really made me watch to see what he does nothing!!! P C rattle the cages cause this group we have is not going to get us far at this point.
PatrickD- It’s irrelevant how far from his net he was. Emelin just released the puck. There was absolutely nothing about the hit that was illegal. I understand that if it was questionable or on the edge his reputation would play into it, but it wasn’t. That argument doesn’t hold water in my book. If that were the case, all of Lucic’s hits against the boards would be subject to review just because he got suspended once for boarding.
All in all, I’m surprised this Marchand hit is garnering so much attention, as I felt the Emelin hit on Thornton SHOULD be a much bigger story and subject to much greater review because that was the definition of a Major boarding penalty.
Good to have some good B’s discussion back though.
John, I think MattK explains that in the post. It was borderline, 200 feet from his net and at the buzzer. Don’t get me wrong I love Marchand and his edge, but he needs to learn when to use it. Like it or not Refs know of player’s reputations and can’t help but be biased by them. Right or wrong it is the way it is. He just needs to learn to control himself and use better judgement.
Trevor B
I was disappointed with lack of hits as well. I’d be hard pressed to name one player that had a good physical game.
Bigjim- what situation did Marchand put himself in? Making a perfectly clean hockey play? Non-penalties don’t become suspensions because of a history. That play wasn’t up for interpretation. Clearly not a clip.
I have to agree with you BigJim. Regardless of your opinion of the hit, Marchand has to learn that, like it or not, he plays by a different set of criteria now. It’s not fair but it’s what we have. So either he figures it out or is going to be sitting again very soon. Or he is going to get run himself and be out for a good long time. I love the Pat Verbeek/Ken Linesman comparisons but have to draw the line at Claude Liemeux. The first two were gritty the latter was a opportunist creep. Marchand does not want to end up with that legacy…he is too skilled to have that fate but he had better figure it out soon.
marchand needs to stop putting himself in these situations, regardless of what you think of this hit. i think it was borderline at best and as kalman points out totally unnecessary. even if you think it was a clean play, you must admit marchand puts himself in this position far too often.
On another note on last nights game:
Watching it live a couple rows off the glass just behind Price’s net, I noticed a big difference from the other BOS-MTL games I went to see. The physical side of the game was once again one-sided.. But for the opposite team. The Bruins were out hit 27-16 against a division rival who can easily be out worked and out checked night in and night out. I’ve always been a big fan of the hard-nosed, “dish out a hit whenever possible” type of play. Face it, Boston excels at it and wins because of it. Seeing them being pushed around by guys like Subban and Emelin frustrated me. I can only imagine how hard it must be on the body to play 82+ games of a physical sport at an Elite level. Playing back to back after finishing another physical game against the Rangers, I understand that fatigue is a factor. I guess I imagined that last night, the Bs would take out some frustration on their historical rivals. Still happy about the win (being a Boston fan in Montreal, these moments are enjoyed to the fullest). Unfortunately, I had to sit there while 21000 other people laughed and cheered at an injuried hockey player. I feel ashamed to say I share a city with these people.
On another note on last nights game:
Watching it live a couple rows off the glass just behind Price’s net, I noticed a big difference from the other BOS-MTL games I went to see. The physical side of the game was once again one-sided.. But for the opposite team. The Bruins were out hit 27-16 against a division rival who can easily be out worked and out checked night in and night out. I’ve always been a big fan of the hard-nosed, “dish out a hit whenever possible” type of play. Face it, Boston excels at it and wins because of it. Seeing them being pushed around by guys like Subban and Emelin frustrated me. I can only imagine how hard it must be on the body to play 82+ games of a physical sport at an Elite level. Playing back to back after finishing another physical game against the Rangers, I understand that fatigue is a factor. I guess I anticipated a more chippy and phygame from a team
All this talk about PC not wanting to break up team chemistry.. Looks like the Hockey Gods took care of it. Things have been below Bruins standards even since the absence of Horton (and perhaps the whole Thomas-Internet fiasco). Peverley didn’t look comfortable playing away from BP67 and CK23. Breaking up those 2 lines due to Horton’s injury caused an offensive slide. The Bergeron line can only pick up so much of the slack. Now, the Bs lost another forward and are in big time trouble when it comes to offensive wingers. A trade is looking better and better with all this disruption to the roster.
Where to begin on last night’s game…
Typical Bleeping Montreal, to quote Laviolette. The fact that there wasn’t a penalty, let alone a Major + misconduct on Emelin’s boarding of Thornton is just staggering. Thornton is incredibly lucky not to have gotten hurt on that play, and the fact that the refs deemed that a clean his is disgusting. Yet moments later they get Seidenberg on a weak cross-check and a phantom tripping call where it appeared Cole just toe-picked. Compound that with the lack of a call on Gill for his leg-check on Peverley, and just, ugh! That was a dangerous play (as evidenced by Peverley now being injured), and Gill was doing stuff like that all game. He easily could have been called for about 10 interference calls just throwing his massive frame in front of people all night.
As for the Marchand hit and Shanahan’s quote. Shanahan needs to freshen up on the rule book. If it wasn’t across or below the knees, it wasn’t a clip. Plain and simple. He never should have even had to comment on it. If you don’t like that Shanny, then rewrite the clipping rule, but that was incorrectly called on the ice, and wasn’t a clip.
To every Canadien fan standing an applauding an opposing player taking a slap shot to the face (no matter the player), you are a disgusting creature. Despicable. Sub-human. Pond scum. Although going into last night I never had much of an opinion on Plekanec, I thought it was a really classy move to check on Chara, and it really elevated my opinion of him. I feel sorry for good hockey fans, who just happen to be Habs fans, who end up getting lumped in with the swine giving an opposing player a standing ovation for getting hurt.
I don’t know what any other broadcast feeds were like, but watching the NBCSports feed, I continually found myself angry at the television because of the verbal diahrrea spewing from the mouths of Messrs Olczyk and McGuire. Calling the Emelin hit on Thornton a “good check” and then never showing another replay of it. Good stuff NBCSports. Clean it up.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as irritated after a win as last night. I guess games with the Mount Royal Canadians will do that…