Game 2 about ‘finding ways to win the game’

Cameron steers clear of any talk of retaliation for slash on Stone

MONTREAL There is no suspension to Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. There is no fine for outspoken Senators coach Dave Cameron.

But there is no shortage of opinion — and from the Ottawa Senators’ point of view, outrage — about the wicked Subban slash in the Canadiens’ series opening 4-3 victory Wednesday which has left Senators right winger Mark Stone with a “micro-fracture” in his right wrist.

While Subban will be back for Game 2 of the Senators-Canadiens series Friday at the Bell Centre, Stone is questionable for the remainder of the series.

“The disturbing part … is that there was a threat made before by Subban to Stone,” said Senators general manager Bryan Murray. “There were two attempts on faceoffs to slash him. One connected. Then (Subban) two — handed him across the wrist in front of the net. He has been one of our (best), if not the best, player, one of the top five players in the league in the last two months of the year.”

Murray labelled it a “huge loss”, even if Stone is able to play through the injury and return at some point in the series. Centre Kyle Turris, who teamed up with Stone to give the Senators an outstanding scoring duo over the final eight weeks of the season, says Stone is a “very important part of this team.”

While Turris says players should expect nastiness and ugliness when the playoffs arrive, he believes the Subban play crossed the line.

While Clarke MacArthur called the hit a “lumberjack slash” and a “tomahawk” immediately following the game Wednesday, Turris described it as a “baseball swing” on Thursday.

“In the playoffs, you get slashes here and there and you get away with some things, but when it’s blatant, to harm a person like that, is a little dangerous.

“There is a line in the playoffs and it’s up to the league to decide if that was crossed.”

If Stone can’t play Friday — he went for X-rays at a Montreal hospital Thursday morning — it will result in a re-shuffling of the Senators’ lines.

At Thursday’s practice, Milan Michalek was moved up to play on a line with Turris and MacArthur. Alex Chiasson jumped from the fourth line to second line, taking Michalek’s spot beside Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan.

Chris Neil, who hasn’t played since breaking his hand in a February 14 fight, was lined up in Chiasson’s former spot, on a line with David Legwand and Mike Hoffman.

There’s no secret about Neil’s aggressive, physical style, but on Thursday Cameron steered clear of any talk of revenge against Subban. The Senators’ coach had raised eyebrows immediately following the Game 1 victory, suggesting that if the NHL didn’t suspend Subban, the best response would be for the Senators to slash one of the Canadiens players and accept the same punishment the Canadiens defenceman received: a five-minute major penalty.

“You don’t like one of your best players getting hurt, you don’t like to see that at all,” Neil said. “Stoner is a tough guy, so he’s not lying there like a soccer player who is diving. You knew that one hurt him for sure.”

Neil also chose his words carefully on possible revenge, but there is a reason why he’s nicknamed The Beast.

“If he’s skating up the ice with his head down, you finish your check on him,” said Neil. “That’s how you get him back.”

As much as Subban will have a target on his back, the Senators insist they can’t lose focus on the more important bigger picture of winning Game 2 and bringing the series back to Ottawa deadlocked 1-1.

“One of our keys is discipline over emotion, and that’s what we’ll preach,” said Cameron.

“It’s not about retaliation. It’s about playing physical hockey, whistle to whistle, finding ways to win the game.

“That’s where our energy is going to be spent.”

Yet while the Subban slash was the signature moment of the opening game, the series is just getting started.

“We have a great rivalry with them already,” said Senators defenceman Marc Methot.

“We have a lot of different personnel between the two teams (from the 2013 series), but ultimately, the series itself, with the cities being so close and the passion, I’m not really shocked it ramped up that quickly.”

Indeed. And it’s still early — very early — in a matchup between teams with a healthy disrespect for each other.

It’s not going to get any prettier from here.