There’s been no love lost in the Montreal-Philadelphia series so far and the intensity is even picking up off the ice, following news that Brendan Gallagher will miss the rest of Round 1 with a broken jaw from a cross-check by Matt Niskanen that resulted in a one-game suspension.
Following Game 5, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault referred to the cross-check as a “hockey play” and that the Canadiens forward “got up and seemed fine” as he continued to talk to the referees and Flyers players.
On Friday, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin spoke to the media and shot back at Vigneault.
“I was expecting more and I was extremely disappointed that AV would make a comment about a player’s injuries without knowing the extent of it,” Bergevin said. “Brendan Gallagher will be missing an extended period of time and will be eating his meals out of a straw, and I don’t wish that on anybody, and that includes the Flyers players. It’s a battle out there, and we don’t want people to get hurt like that.”
Shortly after Vigneault met with the media again and was asked about the hit and Bergevin’s comments directed toward the coach.
Rather than step back, Vigneault double down on what he said previously.
“You don’t like to see any players get injured, there’s no doubt,” Vigneault said. “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 for nearly five minutes. So it didn’t look like he was hurt, other than obviously it looked like he had a cut. I believe that if the Montreal medical personnel thought that it was something real serious, they would’ve probably taken him off and brought him inside. So, I can only state the facts and state what I was watching, and what I was watching was the guy that just kept on talking, so he didn’t seem like he was hurt.”
The incident occurred in the final few minutes of Game 5 during a puck battle in the corner. As Gallagher turned, Niskanen came in with a cross-check that caught the Canadiens winger square in the mouth. He was left bloodied and did not play again in the last four minutes.
While Gallagher will not return through the end of this series at least, Niskanen would be eligible to return to Philadelphia’s lineup for Game 7, if Montreal wins on Friday.
“The authority of the NHL has made their decision and we’ll live with it,” Bergevin said. “We’ll respect the decision. It’s unfortunate that our player, Brendan, is going to miss an undetermined amount of time while their player will miss one game. I don’t have more comments to make on it. We’ll respect it and move ahead with a big game tonight.
“We agree to disagree and I think that’s respectful, that’s fair, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Interestingly, in an Eastern Conference Final series between Montreal and the New York Rangers in 2014 there was a similar incident, in which the Canadiens’ Brandon Prust was suspended two games for a hit that broke Derek Stepan’s jaw. There was plenty of speculation his injury was fabricated to lengthen the suspension, though Stepan did miss the next game before returning for the final two.
Among those skeptical of the injury at the time was Gallagher.
“He got up and was yapping and yelling, so I don’t think the jaw was hurting too much,” Gallagher noted in 2014.
Vigneault was coaching the Rangers at the time and, whether or not he remembers what Gallagher said about the Stepan incident, Vigneault’s comments on Friday certainly echoed those from 2014.
Game 6 between Philadelphia and Montreal goes Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, CBC and SN Now.
