Milan Lucic avoided suspension for his hit Saturday night on Ryan Miller, as NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan decided not to punish him for his collision with the Sabres goalie.
And the decision, made after a 1 p.m. meeting between Lucic and Shanahan, comes as no surprise to Lucic, based on what he told Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti on Monday afternoon.
"I don't expect to be suspended, but obviously it's not my call," he said on 98.5 The Sports Hub's 'Felger & Mazz' show, which is simulcast daily on Comcast SportsNet. "It's Brendan Shanahan's call. Hopefully, I'm not suspended . . If I do, it's something out my control and I will respect the decision that Shanahan makes, regardless if he suspends me or not."
Lucic said the hit didn't deserve suspension.
"I looked up when I gained control of the puck and he was still in his net, and when I looked up again after the puck had gotten away from him and was squirting into the Buffalo zone -- I was focused on the puck, trying to get in on a breakaway -- Miller was out of his net and I just braced myself and it ended up being a big collision," said Lucic.
"I could not have avoided him . . . Even if you look at the replay, I straighten out my body to try to lessen the impact as much as I could. That's not the type of player I am, to go around running goalies."
Miller suffered a concussion Saturday night and is out indefinitely, though Lucic isn't sure he suffered the injury solely as a result of his hit.
Boston Bruins
"It's unfortunate that Miller got hurt," said Lucic. "He got hit later on the period when Buffalo's Ville Leino pushed Boston's Tyler Seguin into him. He got hit just as hard. You get bowled over twice like that, something's going to happen."
Miller reacted strongly after the game, calling Lucic "a piece of expletive", but Lucic would not respond Monday.
"I'm not the type of guy that likes to talk trash in the media, and I'm not going to stir things up," he said. "If I want to talk trash, I'll talk it on the ice so he can hear it directly."
He was also asked if he was surprised by the Sabres' lack of response.
"I'm not calling their team out, but I mean . . . all I'm going to say is, I think everyone knows if it happened on our end of the stick, what would happen," he said. "We've shown in the past how we do react."
As for why Buffalo enforcer Patrick Kaleta let the act go unpunished, Lucic said: "That's a question for him to answer, that's for sure."