Lecavalier Up for Suspension
Denis Gauthier hit Vinny Lecavalier late after Lecavalier plugged in a goal with a little over a minute left in the Flyers-Lightning game. Lecavalier proceeded to get right in Gauthier’s face. Gauthier shed his gloves, as did Lecavalier. Gauthier threw a right as Vinny got in there, and then Lecavalier then got off a few rights of his own before Gauthier responded with one more right of his own. There’s a crowd now, and the linesmen break it all up. Video is currently on hockeyfights.com.
So what came of all that? Lecavalier picked up 27 penalty minutes. A fighting major accompanied by an instigator, misconduct and game misconduct. For Gauthier? Nothing.
Bolts coach John Tortorella wondered why that was, as did Lecavalier. From the AP recap:
“Vinny gets an instigator penalty. Why? I don’t know. Because, he got run over,” Tortorella said. “Gauthier knew the puck was in, that play was done. I love the way Vinny responded. I like the way Kubina responded.”
The NHL office will review the play.
“He’s the one that instigated it by hitting me late after a goal,” Lecavalier said. “I definitely don’t think I should get suspended.”
Following Colin Campbell’s previous rulings, I don’t expect Lecavalier to be suspended. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gauthier was. While it wasn’t Hunter-Turgeon (see Hunter’s Wikipedia entry for the reference), it was late and Gauthier doesn’t have the cleanest reputation.
This is actually the second time within a week Gauthier has been involved in a fight where he didn’t receive a fighting major, an occurance that only happened 16 times over the course of the entire 2003-04 season.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if any, extra disciplinary action comes out of this one.
Next entry: Josh Gratton to Get a Crack at the NHL - Maybe
Previous entry: Coyotes Questioned About Gambling Ring
Comments