MONTREALBy and large, Claude Julien has given up weighing in with his opinions on borderline hits and hockey offenses that might garner the attention of Brendan Shanahan and his Department of Player Safety.
There were a handful of sketchy on-ice incidents that alternated between unnoticed and handled by the games overwhelmed referees at the Bell Centre on Wednesday night, but a pair gained traction in the hours following the contest.
A knee-on-knee collision between Hal Gill and Rich Peverley has sent the Bruins winger back to Boston to undergo testing and meetings with doctors to determine the extent of an injury that knocked him out in the third period. Despite lamenting the loss of Peverley while already one right winger short in Nathan Horton, the Bs coach didnt want to weigh in too strongly after reviewing the game video.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
It doesnt matter. Whether I like it or dont like it I dont make the decisions, said Julien with a smile on his face. Were going to move forward with that. Im done commenting on that kind of stuff.
Julien did actually comment a little more substantively when asked about the Brad Marchand clipping penalty on Alexei Emelin and whether the Bruins expected any league reprimand for a player thats already been suspended five games for clipping Sami Salo. There were an entirely different set of circumstances on the Emelin hit, which Marchand seemed to target above the knee, and it was clearly a softer collision with the Montreal defenseman able to skate away from the impact.
Were at a stage where it doesnt matter what we think. Its what they look at and what they feel is the right thing, said Julien. You have to respect what theyre trying to do and move forward here.
My eyes saw Marchands butt hit the other guys butt. Clipping and a suspension is going after a guys knees. Thats the way I saw it and Im hoping the league sees it the same way.
While there's been no word about the league looking into the Gil kneeing hit, Brendan Shanahan addressed the Marchand clip Thursday afternoon in several tweets.
"Like all penalties on the ice, not all "clips" rise to the level of supplemental discipline," he tweeted. "This check by Marchand was delivered to the upper thighhip and not the knee area. We don't like it, but not SD."