According to insiders, Game 1 of the Habs-Jets series nearly ended in a bench-clearing riot.
In the last seconds of Game 1 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, there was a terrifying scenario.
As you may know, Mark Scheifele received a four-game suspension for charging the Habs' Jake Evans when he was scoring an empty-net goal to seal a 5-3 victory. But, just seconds after giving his club a two-goal lead, he was brought down by the Jets' star forward on a harsh, high, and unexpected hit.
It took several minutes to tend to Evans, get him safe and onto the stretcher and out of the arena to undergo evaluation by team doctors. During that time, Canadiens players were worried, and so were some of the Jets', however, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported that some players from Winnipeg took the opportunity to call out veteran forward Corey Perry on the Montreal bench, telling him he did the same to Toronto Maple Leafs' captain John Tavares in the first-round series.
As you may recall, Tavares was carried off the ice on a stretcher after colliding with the Montreal Canadiens early in the first-round playoff encounter. It was an unintentional collision: Tavares collided with Habs defenseman Ben Chariot, fell to the ice helpless, and was struck by forward Corey Perry's knee. Before he was hauled away, trainers and physicians from both teams raced to the ice and attended to the veteran forward. As he was hauled off the ice and taken to the hospital, he offered a thumbs up.
There is a significant difference! While Perry never intended to hit Tavares, these Jets players acted as though the hits were the same. Tavares was likewise stretchered off the ice, which was the only similarity.
After the game, Wheeler sent his best to Evans. Never mentioned that he needed to stop a bench-clearing brawl in the process.
«Just hope he's OK,» Wheeler said. «That's it, really. That's all. That's the concern. It's never good to see a guy on the ice for that amount of time, the stretcher out � it's scary.»
Wow.
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