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Montreal Canadiens Drive for 25: Will Max Pacioretty Be a Target?

By Mat Germain

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When P.K. Subban, how should I term it, decided to play “not so smart” hockey and decided to 2-hand slash Mark Stone, he made every top-end Habs player a target. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Sens coach. He gave the league an ultimatum:

"“I think it’s an easy solution: You either suspend him or one of their best players gets slashed and just give us five. Not that complicated”"

I have to admit to not knowing much about Dave Cameron or where he came from. And I do have to applaud him sticking up for his top players and letting the league know where he stands. However, I’ll say this as loud as I can:

THAT WAS THE DUMBEST THING HE COULD HAVE DONE!!!

Why? Now the Ottawa Senators can’t do anything about it at all. If they do, the league will have all of the ammunition it needs to start penalizing the Senators and their coach.

This is an extremely important point for the Habs, because with Max Pacioretty sitting on the sidelines trying to get healthy enough to return, the Habs can ill afford to have him come back only to get targeted and sent right back off the ice. Particularly when you consider the fragile nature of concussions. One elbow to the head and he could be out for the playoffs.

But, in my estimation, and in backwards fashion, the Subban slash may very well save Pacioretty from retribution, only because the Sens coach retaliated in a very dumb way. You know what, the best coaches I’ve ever seen let the players settle it on the ice. And if they want to get their players to act in a certain way, tell them behind closed doors, not in a public forum.

The NHL has already said they will not be taking any action against Subban, which is great news for him and the Habs, as indicated by Stephane Quintal.

Back to P.K. Subban for a second: what was he thinking? Was he trying to knock the stick out of Stone’s hands? It has to be the only explanation, right?

Not only did I not like the slash, or understand its intent, but Subban’s immature reaction to the decision worries me quite a bit. What makes him believe he has the right to come back and through tantrums in hallways in view of the ice?

That is not how a professional hockey player acts, however emotional a situation is.

Even more unsettling was this from an Ian Medes article that adds Subban may have targeted Stone all night:

"“He’d been doing it a couple of times. He tried targeting it a couple times in the first period off face-offs. I think he knew what he was doing,” said Stone"

Intent is really hard to prove. But, it’s also hard to disprove video evidence.

When I wrote the piece about Subban and how I believe him to be Superman, I truly believed he had turned the corner and was ready to act in the best interest of the Montreal Canadiens. We’ll see what comes out of the rest of the series and playoffs, but I certainly hope he doesn’t continue to prove me wrong….

Let’s see how the Ottawa Senators truly react to the situation in the next game. All I can add right now is that there will likely be fireworks and further casualties in a now heated series. In truth, is there really a better way to go through the playoffs than pedal to the metal? This is turning out to be a great playoff already. With only 1 game in the books, we know that it’s going to be as entertaining as it can get.

Here is a review of the slash, his tirade, and the “comeback”. Brent Sopel does a great job explaining my thoughts on it.

I don’t want to leave you guys on a sour note. So, if you want to take a second to watch a few highlight goals from game 1, here you go:

Other “Montreal Canadiens Drive for 25” articles available:

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