Julien: Cross The Line With Bruins, Going To Face The Music
BOSTON (CBS) – Montreal defenseman PK Subban had already been on the enemy list with Boston Bruins fans, but his actions Thursday night may have bumped him up to the number-one slot.
With the Bruins up 2-0 in the third period, Subban threw an elbow at Boston forward David Krejci's head, sending one of the their best players to the ice.
In Bruins fashion, Andrew Ference immediately responded by getting in Subban's face and tried to send him to the ice.
The only problem: Subban was already heading there himself. Instead of facing the music from Ference, the Montreal defenseman turtled and covered his face. A scrum ensued, igniting a little fire to an otherwise quiet Bruins-Canadiens game, but not much else was made of it.
Subban was assessed two minutes for elbowing. Ference received four minutes for roughing. Advantage Canadiens, and they took advantage of the extra skater to pull within a goal.
While head coach Claude Julien applauds his team for sticking up for one another, he wasn't happy Montreal was able to make it 2-1 because of it.
"It cost us a goal, and we certainly don't like that part of it. We can't just be happy when it turns out well, and then criticize them when it doesn't," Claude Julien said after the 2-1 win. "Our guys are a group of guys that stick together, and I like to see that. I couldn't see it from where it was on the bench because it happened in front of theirs, and it was called elbowing, so I don't know where he elbowed him, but if it was a dangerous elbow, then you'd hope, again, that – I'm going to go back to what I said less than a week ago, we're going to police ourselves as far as protecting ourselves, and that's the way we've decided to handle it. Sometimes it comes with consequences, but at the end of the day, I think that everybody knows that if they're going to cross the line with us, they're going to have to face the music."
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Subban decided to cover his ears and not listen to that music Ference wanted to play for him. We'll see if NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan comes singing to PK as well.
At least with Shanahan, Subban won't be able to turtle away from any punishment.
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