DeBoer defends Kane’s Game 1 cross-checks
SAN JOSE >> Evander Kane fed his critics some fodder in Game 1 when he put himself in a position to be suspended with his crosscheck to the head of Vegas Golden Knights forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
To some, the play reinforced Kane’s bad boy image. He lost his cool in a blowout loss and responded with a violent act, compromising his team’s ability to win Game 2 by drawing a one-game suspension.
But Sharks coach Pete DeBoer saw the play in a different light.
As Kane rejoined the lineup Monday for Game 3, DeBoer defended the 26-year-old forward’s decision to engage Bellemare with a pair of cross-checks after the whistle.
“He’s coming over to basically defend our captain and kind of get in the middle of things, which is a big part of his job,” DeBoer said. “Sometimes, some lines get crossed in those situations, but there was no intent there. I know that for sure.”
Kane got in the middle of things after Joe Pavelski and Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt exchanged shoves and slashes behind the play. The Sharks forward threw a cross-check into Bellemare’s right shoulder after he stepped between he and Schmidt. His second cross-check caught Bellemare in the head, triggering the suspension.
Kane said he was surprised by the suspension.
“It was an accident at the end of the day,” he said. “I wasn’t looking at Bellemare. I was going after Schmidt. He decided to get in the way and that’s hockey. The suspension, obviously, I don’t agree with in comparison to some of the cross-checks that have gotten a game. Nowhere near as vicious, that’s for sure.
“It’s behind us now. We won the game. I really don’t care as long as we win.”
DeBoer stayed neutral when asked about the Department of Player Safety’s decision to issue a suspension.
“I don’t dive into that stuff,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for that department and how hard those decisions are. We survived it and I’m glad it’s in the rearview mirror.”
Kane watched the Sharks even up the series with a dramatic double overtime win from the press box at TMobile Arena on Saturday.
“Every shot on goal looks like it’s going to go in from all the way up there,” Kane said. “It’s a different look. I won’t be doing that again.
• Vegas coach Gerard Gallant was vocal in his displeasure about the wide disparity in power plays in Game 2, with the Sharks enjoying seven and the Golden Knights with just two. Still, DeBoer on Monday didn’t feel as if the NHL or officials paid much attention to those remarks, adding that, “They deserved the penalties they got, just like we deserved the ones we got in Game 1, too.”
Both the Sharks and Golden Knights had been shorthanded 12 times in the first two games, basically doubling the total times they were down a man throughout the first round. Vegas’ infractions on Saturday included three for hooking — penalties related to the Sharks having the puck.
“A lot of those penalties we drew were putting them in tough defending positions because we were winning battles and attacking holes,” DeBoer said. “They did a lot of that to us in Game 1.”
• Tomas Tatar drew into the Vegas lineup, and began the game on the third line with Cody Eakin and David Perron. Coming out of the lineup for the Golden Knights was Ryan Carpenter, who had been held without a point in the series’ first two games against his former team.