Historically, the Stanley Cup playoffs have been a brawl-free zone. They get all that angst out of the way in the regular season and the playoffs just have some minor scraps here and there.
But don’t tell the Senators and Canadiens that.
Game 3 of the series was close entering the third period. Ottawa, with home ice, led just 2-1. But after Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Turris scored back-to-back goals to put the game out of reach things got ugly. Literally at the drop of the puck after Turris’s goal, the two teams went crazy.
The enforcers came out on the ice and everybody paired up for a fight.
Remember, emotions on both sides were high after Senators defenseman Eric Gryba took out Canadien Lars Eller with an incredibly dirty hit in Game 1. (Warning: If you watch it, bare in mind there’s a lot of blood.)
Former Rangers enforcer, and one of my favorite players, Brandon Prust bashed Senators head coach Paul McLean after the game when McLean blamed the hit on the so-called “suicide pass.” Apparently a foolish pass excuses a shoulder block to the face and multiple facial fractures in McLean’s eyes.
“[McLean] already showed enough disrespect over there,” Prust said. “So we don’t really care about what that bug-eyed fat walrus has to say.”
So now you know where emotions in the series stood.
The game finished with 236 penalty minutes and nine game misconducts for fighting. The box score is hilarious when you look at the penalties assessed. The coaches even got into, yelling profanities at each other from the bench in the final seconds as Ottawa called a timeout, up 6-1.
We can only hope the two goalies go at it in Game 4.
Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.
