We don't yet know if Alex Burrows will face supplementary discipline for biting Patrice Bergeron during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday night, but we do know how members of the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks reacted to the incident after the game.
Canucks Vs. Bruins: Patrice Bergeron Comments On Alex Burrows Bite; Suspension Possible For Vancouver Forward
Burrows denied biting Bergeron (despite pretty obvious video evidence to the contrary), saying that “he had his fingers in my mouth, but I don’t think I bit him.” Gold, Jerry. Gold.
Most of the Canucks declined comment or brushed it aside. Ryan Kesler told NBC's Pierre McGuire immediately following the game that it's the kind of passionate play Vancouver needs out of a guy like Burrows, although he's clearly downplaying something there because, well, Burrows bit a guy.
Bergeron talked at relative length about the incident, and while saying that he didn’t want to get into a war of words on the subject, he did make sure his point got across.
“Oh yeah, he did [bite me],” Bergeron said. “He cut me a little bit on my finger, but I’m not going to be here complaining about it. I’ll let the league do their job, but he sure did. [The officials] didn’t see it. We were speaking French, me and him, and I told him, ‘Why did you do that?’ That linesmen speaks French, and his explanation was he said that I put my finger in his mouth and he had to do it.”
“I’ll leave it at that, but I’m sure the league is going to look at it.”
Claude Julien was less adamant about it, but he did voice some displeasure despite claiming to have not seen the incident.
“No, I haven’t seen it to be honest with you,” Julien said. “I don’t think I’ve had time to look at that stuff right now. I’m going by what Patrice told me and obviously there was something that happened, and I guess I’ll save my comments for after I see it.”
“And if that’s the case then that’s a classless move and not something players should be doing at this level anyways.”
Colin Campbell won't be making the decision regarding the biting accusations, as he stepped down from his position as the NHL's discipline chief earlier on Wednesday. It won't be Brendan Shanahan, Campbell's eventual replacement, either. Instead, it'll be Mike Murphy, the NHL's VP of Hockey Operations, making the call.
We’ll likely learn Burrows’ fate sometime on Thursday.
The Stanley Cup Finals are ongoing, as the Vancouver Canucks battle the Boston Bruins. Stick with this StoryStream for full coverage of Game 1. For coverage on the Finals, stick with our Stanley Cup Finals hub, our Canucks blog, Nucks Misconduct, and our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder.
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