BROSSARD, Quebec — The tune Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was singing changed drastically in less than 24 hours, as he is now apparently defending John Moore’s blindside headshot to Dale Weise during the Canadiens’ 7-4 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Moore creamed Weise with 9:19 remaining in the third period, and the Rangers’ young defenseman was given a five-minute elbowing major, as well as a match penalty. He has a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Wednesday afternoon, and is likely going to be suspended.
“The league will do what it has to do. It was a late hit and it was the right call on the ice,” Vigneault said after the Rangers’ series lead was cut to 3-2.
On Wednesday at the team’s hotel, just before leaving for New York in anticipation of Thursday night’s Game 6 at the Garden, Vigneault had a different view of the play.
“It doesn’t meet the league standard as far as a late hit,” Vigneault said. “It was a hit that Johnny caught him a little high in the chest, the player [Weise] didn’t see it coming. It probably warrants the penalty that was given on the ice, other than that, I don’t see what else it could warrant. But I’ve been surprised before, so we’ll see what happens.”
Vigneault had a couple reference points for his stance, and the first was from earlier in this series. In Game 3, the Canadiens’ Brandon Prust nailed Derek Stepan with a late hit that broke Stepan’s jaw, requiring surgery and forcing the Rangers’ top center to miss Game 4. Although Prust was not penalized, he was suspended for two games, and is now set to return for Game 6.
Weise, on the other hand, missed only a couple minutes, and came back to play three more shifts in the third period. Weise was not on the ice at the Canadiens’ practice on Wednesday, but it was an optional and sparsely attended. Coach Michel Therrien said he had no update on Weise’s status, having not seen him Wednesday morning.
“The guy [Weise] was admiring his pass a little bit,” Vigneault said. “Unfortunately, because of the force of the hit, the head seemed to be snapped back a little bit. But as far as what I know about league standards, and from what I heard about the Prust hit, the dynamics of the hit changed because Stepan was hurt. I don’t see that at this time right now.”
Vigneault also then referenced an instance from the 2011 Stanley Cup final, when he was the coach of the Canucks and had his player, Aaron Rome, suspended for four games after a brutal hit on the Bruins’ Nathan Horton.
“By league standard — and I know league standard very well because of a couple years ago in the Boston series against my former team in Vancouver — it doesn’t meet the league standard as far as a late hit,” Vigneault said.
The response from Therrien was expected, as these two coaches have continually thrown barbs at each other throughout the series.
“What Alain Vigneault is saying is what every coach is going to say,” Therrien said. “He’s there to protect his players, every coach is going to say those types of things. We all saw the hit, it’s in the league’s hands, and I’m sure they’re going to [make] a good decision. That’s the way we see it.”
Canadiens starting goalie Carey Price was on the ice before his team for the second straight day in full pads, working on lateral movement. Therrien was adamant on Tuesday morning that the right-knee injury Price suffered in Game 1 as a result of getting run into by Chris Kreider is still going to keep him out the remainder of this series.