Toucher & Rich: No Defense For Shawn Thornton's Actions On Brooks Orpik
Two days and a game have passed, but the events of Saturday night at the TD Garden remain a major talking point in the hockey world.
Toucher & Rich discussed the incident on Monday morning, saying that despite "a lot of crap that happened in that game," there's no excusing Shawn Thornton for going after Brooks Orpik.
"It was a cheap game where the refs lost complete control of it very early, and there are a lot of people that should be suspended after that game," Fred Toucher said.
Regular Sports Hub caller Mike From Attleboro called in to say that considering the Penguins rarely fight, opponents have to take justice into their own hands.
"I have less of a problem with what Thornton did than you did, primarily because he's an enforcer," Mike said. "If you don't want to settle your debt with honor, don't be surprised when you get repaid without it. … You're going to have to get them on their teams, and it's not going to look pretty."
Fred countered with, "You can't pull a guy down from behind and start hitting him and have him go off on a stretcher."
Rich said, "If that was any other team, and they did that to a Bruin, you would be losing your mind. And rightfully so."
"Talk to Thornton about it," Fred said. "He's not lying. He's not trying to get leniency from the league. … Orpik's a punk and he doesn't fight and he does those things, but does Marchand -- because he's a pest -- does he deserve to get kneed in the head by [James] Neal?"
The guys also compared and contrasted Thornton's postgame comments with those of James Neal, who kneed Brad Marchand in the head but played dumb after the game.
