MEA GULP-A
Miller apologizes for 'accidental' loogie that puts Rangers in bind
This could be the most infamous loogie in New York sports since the Keith Hernandez “Seinfeld” episode more than 30 years ago.
Only this time, no one’s really laughing, least of all K’Andre Miller. The Rangers’ defenseman faces a hearing and possible suspension for an incident late in the first period of the team’s 5-2 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday night in which Miller either spit directly in the face of Kings star Drew Doughty or a ball of his saliva ended up there.
After the game, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Miller had told him it was an accident, and Monday morning on Twitter, Miller elaborated.
“I wanted to take a moment to address what occurred in last night’s game,” wrote Miller, who was ejected on a match penalty which left the Rangers shorthanded for five minutes and seriously undermanned for the remainder of the game.
“I have all the respect in the world for Drew Doughty and what happened was completely accidental. I would never intend to do something like that on purpose, it goes against everything I am as a person and player,’’ the 23-year-old continued. “I felt awful about it and I am thankful Drew gave me the opportunity to apologize and explain myself in person after the game.”
The confrontation that sparked the incident was mild. A handful of players gathered along the boards inside the Rangers zone when Miller gave the Kings’ Kevin Fiala a shove after the whistle. Doughty glided into the area and got splashed as he approached Miller.
“I was just shocked, obviously,” the 2016 Norris Trophy winner told reporters shortly after the game and evidently before his private face-to-face with Miller. “I don’t even know if I said anything to [Miller] after [that, on the ice] ... I just immediately went to the ref to try to get the penalty but you don’t want to see things like that in this game. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. I’m sure it has happened but not that I’ve seen.
“Whether or not he meant to do it, I have no idea. It was a pretty big loogie on my face so I was pretty pissed.”
There is recent precedent. In 2019, Garnet Hathaway, then of the Capitals, was banned three games without pay for spitting on the Ducks’ Erik Gudbranson. That came as part of an extended melee between the teams and during an angry, punch-filled altercation between the two of them. The scene was far different from what occurred at the Garden.
The loss of Miller for any amount of time would be damaging to the Rangers, who have a back-to-back in Philadelphia on Wednesday followed by a home date with Ottawa on Thursday. The Blueshirts also could be without top-pair defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who missed Sunday’s game after leaving the team’s loss in Washington with an upper-body injury the day before.
Not only that, as part of GM Chris Drury’s machinations to get under the salary cap so he can acquire Patrick Kane before Friday’s trade deadline, third-pair defenseman Braden Schneider was sent to AHL Hartford, on paper at least. The Rangers finished Sunday’s game with Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, Niko Mikkola and Ben Harpur as their four defensemen.
➤ Vitali Kravtsov, traded to Vancouver for William Lockwood and a seventh-round pick as part of the Rangers’ salary cap clearance for Kane, went pointless in 8:53 of ice time in his Canucks debut, a 5-4 overtime win at Dallas.
During a conference call with reporters earlier in the day, the ninth-overall pick in the 2018 draft declined to air any dirty laundry about a Rangers tenure which amounted to five goals and five assists in 48 games.
“I’m very [thankful] to the New York Rangers organization. I can’t say anything bad. Everything that happened there stays there. I don’t have any issue right now,” the 23year-old winger said. “I’m right now a part of the Vancouver Canucks and I want to talk only about the future, not the past.”