An do-or-die Game 6 takes place tonight for the Montreal Canadiens. Down three games to two in the best-of-seven series versus the Philadelphia Flyers, the Canadiens come in undermanned as it was learnes Game 5 star Brendan Gallagher would be missing the remainder of the series (however long it lasts) with a broken jaw. Gallagher suffered that broken jaw at the hands of defenseman Matt Niskanen who cross checked the small but feisty forward in the face. He too will miss a game for his role in the incident, suspended for one contest by NHL Player Safety.
Needless to say, this series has heated up in a major way. While there’s no doubt the players will look to enact a controlled measure of revenge, hours before Game 6 is set to take place, Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin and Philadelphia Flyers coach Alain Vigneault took verbal shots at one another.
Bergevin said he was “extremely disappointed” with comments made by Vigneault on Thursday. Vigneault had said he didn’t see anything wrong with what Niskanen had done and claimed it wasn’t his fault Gallagher was a smaller forward. At the time Vigneault made those comments, it wasn’t revealed Gallagher had suffered a broken jaw (it might not have mattered).
Bergevin Was Not Pleased With Vigneault’s Comments
Bergevin spoke to reporters and was not pleased with the comments from the Flyers head coach. Suggesting it was reckless to downplay a serious injury, Bergevin was surprised the Vigneault didn’t have a little more compassion.
Bergevin said:
“I was expecting more and I am extremely disappointed (Vigneault) would make a comment about a player’s injuries without knowing the extent of it. Brendan Gallagher will be missing an extended period of time and will be eating his meals out of a straw.
I don’t wish that on anybody and that includes the Flyers players.”
Vigneault: “I Can Only State the Facts”
Vigneault didn’t exactly see what Bergevin seems to. Saying he does feel bad that anyone would suffer a serious injury, he hinted that perhaps Gallagher’s actions during and after the play contributed to the severity of the injury.
He responded a couple hours later with, “You don’t like to see any players get injured, there’s no doubt.” He wasn’t about to relieve Gallagher of his role in the incident though. Vigneault explained:
But at the end of the day, I can only state the facts, and the fact was that Gallagher got up and his mouth didn’t shut up for at least five minutes to the referees, the linesmen and to our bench.
The coach went on to say that it didn’t look like Gallagher was hurt other than sustaining a cut on the cross check. He said, “I believe if the Montreal medical personnel felt that it was something real serious, they would have probably taken him off and brought him inside (the locker-room).”
He added, “I can only state the facts and state what I was watching. And what I was watching was a guy that just kept on talking. He didn’t seem like he was hurt.”
Vigneault actually went on to suggest that the injury might not have been that bad, but that Gallagher might have made it worse by talking so much. “I don’t know if he aggravated his injury by speaking with us and to the referees for five minutes.” Vigneault said.
Remember, all of this comes a couple of days after Vigneault blasted Canadiens fill-in coach Kirk Muller for putting out the Candiens top powerplay unit in a game where the Habs were up by a wide margin and were likely to win.
Too Bad This Series Isn’t Longer
This is just starting to get good but there’s a chance it all ends Friday night. If the Flyers win, the series will be over.
Bergevin said that Gallagher wants to play, but he’s not able to. “That’s probably the toughest part for him. not being able to be with his teammates,” the GM said.
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