NHL warns Bruins’ Marchand to stop licking opponents
The NHL has told Brad Marchand to stop licking opponents or the Boston Bruins forward will face punishment.
Senior vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell spoke to Marchand and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney on Saturday about Marchand’s actions against Tampa Bay a night earlier. Marchand licked Lightning forward Ryan Callahan on the face during Game 4 of their second-round series after appearing to do the same to Toronto’s Leo Komarov earlier in the playoffs.
The league says Marchand has been put on notice that his actions are unacceptable and that similar behavior in the future will be dealt with through supplemental discipline. He could be fined or suspended if he continues to lick players.
“All I’m going to say is there is absolutely no place in our game for that,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t get it, I don’t understand it. How would you feel if I walked over to you right now and gave you one big lick? Right from the chin all the way up. There’s just no place in the game for that.”
After the game, an overtime loss that put Boston down 3-1 in the series, Marchand said Callahan punched him in the face four times.
“He just kept getting close,” Marchand said. “Nothing big.”
Told that Callahan compared licking to spitting and said it should be penalized accordingly, Marchand said: “That’s cute. Good for him.”
Marchand’s antics were the talk of rinks on Saturday. Penguins forward Tom Kuhnhackl said it was impossible to avoid hearing about Marchand licking Callahan because it was all over social media.
When asked if one benefit of wearing a full face shield was protection from being licked, Pittsburgh’s Carl Hagelin said: ‘I’m not going to answer that. Funny question, though.”
U.S. shuts out Danes
HERNING, DENMARK » The United States dominated host Denmark 4-0 for a second straight victory at the world ice hockey championship.
The Czech Republic rallied from a goal down to beat Slovakia 3-2 in overtime, and South Korea’s debut at the championship was memorable for the wrong reason as it lost to Finland 8-1.
Also, France beat Belarus 6-2 to rebound from losing to Russia 7-0 on Friday in Group A in Copenhagen. Latvia outlasted Norway to win 3-2 in overtime, and Switzerland prevailed over Austria 3-2, also in overtime.
After an opening win over favorite Canada in a penalty shootout, the U.S. had an easier time against Denmark.
After saving 40 shots against Canada, goalie Keith Kinkaid was outstanding again, finishing with a 20-shot shutout.
“I felt pretty sharp today,” Kinkaid said. “Maybe even sharper than yesterday.”
Will Butcher and Chris Kreider each had a goal and an assist.