Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk spoke publicly for the primary time following an on-ice incident earlier this month through which Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley delivered a contentious punch throughout a sport between the Senators and Jets.
The incident occurred halfway by way of the second interval of Ottawa’s 4-2 victory over Winnipeg on Jan. 3 when Stanley, entangled with Tkachuk behind play, dropped his gloves and struck Tkachuk whereas officers had been making an attempt to separate the 2 gamers.
Tkachuk, who didn’t have his gloves off and was targeted on the play on the time, was visibly upset on the ice and later obtained a 10-minute misconduct for his response. Stanley was penalized on the time and in a later choice by the NHL Division of Participant Security was suspended for one sport for roughing.
Talking to media this week, Tkachuk described the second the punch landed as surprising.
“Truthfully, I used to be nonetheless watching the play, after which out of the nook of my eye I simply see the punch coming,” Tkachuk mentioned. “Caught me abruptly. I didn’t anticipate it.”
“I wasn’t blissful getting suckered, however the league made its choice. I’m over it, I might care much less now, it’s prior to now.”
Ottawa went on to safe the win in that matchup with targets from Thomas Chabot who scored twice, Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux. Batherson’s power-play objective got here in the course of the prolonged energy play that resulted straight from Stanley’s penalties and finally proved decisive within the 4-2 ultimate.
Brady Tkachuk grew to become the primary NHL participant to be high-sticked 5 consecutive video games
Earlier final month, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk discovered himself on the unsuitable aspect of a chunk of NHL historical past.
Tkachuk grew to become the primary participant for the reason that league started monitoring penalty knowledge within the 1997-98 season to attract a high-sticking infraction in 5 consecutive video games which an unprecedented streak that solely got here into focus as soon as it was identified internally by the membership.
He later acknowledged he had observed the sample growing however hadn’t realized its historic significance till Senators Vice President of Communications Ian Mendes flagged it.
“I’ve observed it’s been numerous video games in a row, after which when [Senators Vice President of Communications Ian Mendes] instructed me that it’s by no means occurred earlier than, I’m like, ‘effectively, I don’t suppose anyone will get that luck,’” he mentioned.
The captain admitted the run caught him off guard joking that he anticipated these sorts of breaks to return in threes, not fives.
“Often, I believed issues occur in threes, however I suppose they’re occurring in fives proper now.”
The penalties principally occurred in high-traffic areas primarily throughout net-front battles and contested puck conditions, zones the place Tkachuk routinely operates given his bodily confrontational enjoying model. The sequence started on Dec. 6 in Ottawa when St. Louis Blues ahead Robert Thomas missed a stick raise and caught Tkachuk excessive close to the attention space.
Edited by Anjum Rajonno
