Murray says his piece about L’Affaire Subban
MONTREAL Bryan Murray spoke out, passionately, about the L’Affaire Subban here Thursday. He talked about injustice. He suggested there were veiled threats against Mark Stone earlier in the game. And he talked a little history, too, including the heated 2013 series between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.
We shouldn’t have expected anything different.
The Ottawa Senators general manager is not one to sit on his hands. His reaction Wednesday when Erik Condra missed a half open net on a shot which would have tied the series opener 4-4 with six minutes remaining tells it all.
Murray is also not one to bite his tongue, especially on the hot button topic of how the NHL dealt — or, rather, didn’t deal with — Subban’s vicious slash on Stone.
He elbowed coach Dave Cameron out of the way and took on the issue, in the process deflecting some attention away from the Senators’ sloppy, disjointed effort in Game One.
Murray was particularly upset about hearing the no suspension news through the media. Nor was he pleased that the NHL’s head of discipline, Stephane Quintal, didn’t have all the details about the extent of Stone’s injuries before ruling.
The announcement of the “micro-fracture” to Stone’s right wrist was released by the Senators after the NHL’s decision was made public. Stone had X-rays taken at a Montreal hospital Thursday morning.
“It was disturbing to me that it was released (Thursday) morning,” Murray said. “I gave information to the series supervisor (Rod Pasma) Wednesday night (about) what I had been told by the doctors. We knew before the game was over that (Stone) was trying to play hurt. There were obviously aftereffects.”
Murray believes the referees on the ice made the correct call against Subban, giving him a fiveminute major penalty and ejecting him from the game.
But the way he sees it, there was no rush for Quintal to rule so quickly on whether additional punishment was necessary. That’s when Murray went back to history, including the two-game suspension Senators defenceman Eric Gryba received for his open ice check on the Canadiens’ Lars Eller in Game 1 of the 2013 series between the teams.
“We’ve had lesser injuries, lesser incidents happen, hockey plays happen,” he said.
“I still object to the penalty that was given to Gryba at the time because it was a hockey play that went bad. I talked to (Quintal) this morning about some of these incidents and why, at least, he wouldn’t take the day and get all the facts and make a decision in full knowledge of what actually happened.”
Murray suggests the team is not bent on revenge against Subban. Rather, he says, “we’re just asking for justice in a situation where we’ve lost one of our best players.”
We knew before the game was over that he was trying to play hurt. There were obviously after-effects.