Senators Player Targets Maple Leafs Rookie with Controversial Play
The Ottawa Senators got a huge blow to their forward corps as Nick Cousins ended up colliding with Toronto's Jacob Quillan and needed help off the ice.
It was a testy Battle of Ontari on Saturday night, and it may have gotten a bit more heated after a brutal albeit accidental collision.
Toronto forward Jacob Quillan was skating in the neutral zone when he ended up colliding with Ottawa's Nick Cousins. Both men were sent sprawling to the ice as Quillan was able to shake it off; Cousins however was a different story.
Nick Cousins Leaves Game Versus Toronto
The Ottawa Senators can't afford to have any of their players miss time especially after coming off back to back shutout losses. The team is only three points out of a playoff spot and they need all the reinforcements they can get.
While it's not good news for the Senators, it's definitely good news for Toronto. Quillan was making his NHL debut in front of family and friends and for him to have gone down and left the game due to a freak accident would not have been good.
It was a pretty nasty bit of unsportsmanlike behavior from Cousins, and while it's understandable he would want to instill a bit of fear into the rookie, trying to injure him is not the smartest way to go about things.
It seemed to get both teams fired up however, with Brady Tkachuk being at the center of it all not only getting into things with Max Domi, but also Ryan Reaves.
There is no doubt that Toronto would be looking to enact some type of revenge for Cousins' actions, however with his absence the rest of the night, it's a fairly solid consolation prize.
This season Cousins has five goals and eight assists in 46 games for the Senators. The 11-year veteran signed a contract this summer with Ottawa for one-year, $800,000.
It's unknown if Cousins will face any additional punishment, but it may be a lesson for him: Don't try to hurt someone or you're going to risk the exact same fate.
