Thornton On Canucks: 'I Got Jumped By Seven Guys'
The Bruins came from behind after struggling for two periods to beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3. Forward Shawn Thornton scored on a penalty shot and fought former teammate Mark Stuart.
Thornton spoke with Toucher & Rich about the game against the Jets, having it out with a Vancouver writer, the emotional game against the Vancouver Canucks and their next game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Thornton appeared on Comcast SportsNet's Sticks And Stones with Michael Felger Tuesday night. Felger was talking with The Province columnist Tony Gallagher from Vancouver and the writer started to talk about Thornton.
Listen: Toucher & Rich: Thornton vs. Vancouver Writer
Felger mentioned how Dale Weise acted like he wanted to fight with Thornton, but when Shawn threw down the gloves Weise wouldn't go. Thornton, who was in studio, joined the conversation to defend himself and brought up the fact he took on six Canucks during a first period scrum near the Vancouver bench.
How did it feel to stick it to that guy?
"I didn't know he was going to be on, I'm not one to ambush, but when he started talking about me and what I was thinking and putting words in my mouth I figured, I asked Felgy I was like I'm right here I can talk for myself if he wants to get into it."
Gallagher mentioned that Thornton should never have tried to fight Weise because Weise had already fought Nathan Horton that period. Is there some kind of unwritten rule where you can't fight more than once in a period?
"You get to sit in there for five minutes and I don't think he was right on the ice right after that. I didn't challenge him right after we got out of the box there were a few shifts in between, so I'm assuming he had about seven, eight, maybe ten minutes of rest. I think that's enough."
T&R asked Thornton about the scrum in front of the Vancouver bench where it was Shawn against seven other Vancouver players. What happened to cause such a scrum and what was going on in front of the bench before it was broken up?
"One of their players slashed Danny Paille and I was standing right there so I slashed him to let him know I didn't appreciate him taking liberties with my line mate. Then I got stuck in the throat by said person so I dropped my gloves. I tried to address the fact that I got stuck in the throat and then I got jumped by seven guys."
"There were some small punches to the back of the head and face washing, whatever same old, same old whenever there is a scrum, but usually a scrum is a couple people not that many."
In Tuesday's win over the Winnipeg Jets Thornton was awarded a penalty shot and was able to bury the puck knotting things up at two. Does he feel he's moved up on the list when it comes to selecting players for the shootout?
"What from 18 to 17?" Thornton joked. "I'm not terrible at shootouts, we work on them a lot I'm not too bad at them actually. I'm not top three by no means, but that's my only move."
Thornton also threw down with former teammate Mark Stuart during the game with Winnipeg. Is it awkward to fight a friend and former teammate?
"It's part of the job, but I guess afterwards when it's a good friend it's kind of a little different."
Tonight the Montreal Canadiens visit the Garden. How's the team feeling about hosting their big rivals after Tuesday's not so great win?
"It shouldn't be a hard one to get up for, I think it's probably a good time for it too. We didn't really have our emotions last game, it was a little bit of a let down."
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