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.
Comments:
Dave at the Ice Block takes on Lecavalier mixing it up with Denis Gauthier last night.
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? N…Posted by http://www.boltsmag.com/2006/03/18/more-on- on Mar 18, 2006 at 05:10 PMThat S.O.B. Gauthier shove have receive some penalties for that. The fact that Vinny got an instigator and a game misconduct is horses###!
Posted by Josh on Mar 19, 2006 at 07:47 PMGauthier not getting a fighting major was quite wrong, he was throwing punches so he should have. The officiating in that game was F-ed up on both sides. But his initial hit was not late, borderline maybe, but not late. Gauthier was focused on hitting Lacavalier, he had no idea the puck was crossing the goal line at exactly the same time. If Lacavalier was passing instead of shooting, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.
And of course Lecavalier didn’t get suspended since he is a skill guy. Skill guys don’t get caught by this rule, just the fighters. This makes the rule a load of crap anyway.
Posted by Mike on Mar 26, 2006 at 03:51 PM
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