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Milan Lucic has a lot of explaining to do
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There’s no defense to Milan Lucic spearing Detroit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser in the “private parts” during the Bruins’ Game 1 loss last night at the TD Garden. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first instance where Lucic got caught.
A few weeks ago, Lucic did the same thing to Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexi Emelin. This occurred after Lucic was frustrated by Emelin’s hip check earlier in the game, and the seventh year forward didn’t do himself any favors when he discussed it with the media after the B’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Habs on March 24.
“Whether it’s fair or legal or whatever you want to call it, if he wasn’t scared, he’d want to stand up and hit me and not go after my knees. It just shows how big of a chicken he is that he would go down like that to take me down,” Lucic said about Emelin. “It shows you what kind of player he is.”
Lucic denied spearing Emelin that night, but it looked pretty clear that he delivered more than a love tap to the Habs defenseman. Don’t believe me? Watch for yourselves and you can be the judge.
Let’s fast forward to Friday night towards the end of the second period where Lucic, again, decided to give DeKeyser a “cup check”, with a little more impact.
Similar to the Emelin cup check a few weeks ago, Lucic will likely escape a suspension from the NHL Safety Department. Given that Joel Quennville was fined $25,000 for his obscene gesture that would’ve made the late Michael Jackson proud during Game 1 of the Chicago Blackhawks triple overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues Thursday night, it wouldn’t be surprising if Lucic’s wallet was a little lighter by the end of Saturday.
No #NHL sup' discipline scheduled regarding #Bruins Lucic as of late this morn. Look for a league fine.
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) April 19, 2014
Regardless of the leagues stance, Milan Lucic has a lot of explaining to do.
Update 2:03 p.m.: Lucic received a $5,000 fine for spearing DeKeyser in Game 1. He did discuss his actions with the media after practice on Saturday. Below are some tweets from his post-practice scrum:
Lucic said he got caught up in the heat of the moment.
— Joe McDonald (@ESPNJoeyMac) April 19, 2014
Lucic: "I’ve been in the league for seven years and I think I’ve only done that three times. I don’t know why I did it.”
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) April 19, 2014
Lucic claims he’s only speared someone in the, well, you know, three times in his seven-year career. Well that is still three times too many.
Its a part of the game, thats why he only paid a fine. He got got. Every game Ive gone to, players off the puck are taking little shots at each other. Now we are going to make a big deal out of it because its Milan Lucic of the big bad bruins. Please, watch any game and tell me the cheap, dirty stuff doesnt happen off the puck? I remember watching Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe play the dirtiest hockey I have ever seen off of the puck. Its called gamemanship and its part of the game.