Tony DeAngelo takes a shot at Boston crowd after memorable Game 4
BOSTON -- Tony DeAngelo has very quickly become the subject of many fans' ire in Boston, a reality that was evident when Bruins fans heartily booed the Carolina defenseman every time he touched the puck during Sunday's Game 4. While the boos were impossible to miss, DeAngelo doesn't believe the volume was all that loud at the TD Garden.
Speaking to the media between Games 4 and 5, DeAngelo took an unprompted shot at the rowdiness -- or perceived lack thereof -- from the Boston crowd.
"There's no panic in our locker room, 2-2 series and we're back in front of a much louder building than was in Boston," DeAngelo said. "So we'll be fine."
DeAngelo made sure to put the stress on the word "much," making his intentions clear with that statement. He spoke to how impressed he was with the boisterousness from Hurricanes fans in Games 1 and 2.
"Yeah, you gotta remember, Game 1 was my first playoff game with fans," said DeAngelo, whose only previous playoff experience came with the Rangers in the bubble. "So I've been to playoff games. As a kid, I grew up going to Philly games and stuff, which is a crazy crowd. But our crowd has been the loudest that I've played in front of, been in front of, and it could make a big difference for us [Tuesday] night."
Interestingly enough, former Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky took a similar tack in the 2019 playoffs, saying he expected Nationwide Arena in Columbus to be "a hell of a lot louder" than TD Garden. Columbus did win Game 3 at home but Boston won three straight games -- two of which were played in Columbus -- to win the series in six games.
During Sunday's game, DeAngelo was called for an obvious high-sticking penalty, was seemingly called a racist by Brad Marchand, and chucked his stick at Marchand in a futile attempt to prevent an empty-net goal.
As for the back-and-forth with Marchand and the stick throw, DeAngelo downplayed it.
"Nothing," he said. "Just playoff hockey. All good."
The 26-year-old also said he doesn't plan on changing anything about his game as the series progresses.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know what emotions we're talking about here. It's playoff hockey, we're losing the game, right? So it's, obviously we're a little bit frustrated. I don't think anything happened. Nothing happened in the game. Everybody wants to write a little story about it or something, but we're trying to win a series here," he said. "So if you don't have any fire, then you're not gonna win. So I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. I'm not very concerned what anybody thinks."
