Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault Rips Brad Marchand, Claude Julien
BOSTON (CBS) – Tempers were running high during and after Friday's game between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. A day later things haven't cooled down much.
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Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault ripped Bruins forward Brad Marchand and head coach Claude Julien on Saturday morning after Julien said following the previous day's game that New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist took a dive to draw a goalie interference call in the third period.
In Friday's game, the Rangers took the lead on the power play 9:28 into the final frame after Marchand made contact with Lundqvist on the edge of the crease.
Lundqvist flailed backwards, and Marchand was sent to the penalty box.
After Boston's comeback 4-3 win, Julien and Marchand accused Lundqvist of embellishing.
On Saturday, Vigneault responded before his team's game in Philadelphia.
"The comments on Hank were very inappropriate. The way Hank conducts himself, on the ice, away from the rink, off the ice, the example that he sets," Vigneault said, according to the New York Daily News. "Who would you rather have as a son, Henrik Lundqvist or Brad Marchand? For him to say things like that about Hank, totally wrong, and probably Claude is getting a little older and needs to check his eyesight."
Vigneault was also unhappy after Friday's game about a hit by Matt Beleskey that went unpenalized. Beleskey accepted a challenge to fight after the hit, the Bruins went on the power play and Brett Connolly tied the game at 2-2.
After the game Vigneault, who coached the Vancouver Canucks in their loss to the Bruins in a contentious 2011 Stanley Cup Final, compared Beleskey's hit on Derek Stepan to a hit leveled by Aaron Rome on Nathan Horton that earned Rome a 4-game suspension during the series.
The NHL does not appear to agree, however, as Beleskey will reportedly not face discipline for the hit.
Unfortunately for fans of the rivalry, Boston and New York do not play again until January 11 at Madison Square Garden.
