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MONTREAL — If Montreal Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau was hoping to exploit a late-game incident in which Tom Kostopoulos sucker-punched Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen, the guilty party threw cold water on his coach's ploy.
Carbonneau defended the late-game behaviour of Kostopoulos. The Canadiens' coach also accused the Flyers of taunting his players after they scored the game's final goal with 2 minutes 21 seconds remaining in Philadelphia's 4-2 win to tie the second-round best-of-seven series 1-1.
But yesterday a contrite Kostopoulos took responsibility for his actions – he popped Timonen with a left hook to the face and then fell on the Flyers' defenceman – and admitted his coach was simply trying to protect his player.
“He's sticking up for me,” said Kostopoulos, who with three goals and plenty of feistiness has been one of the Canadiens' top players in the playoffs.
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“I just let my emotions take control. I was upset and we were losing. I should have controlled my emotions and skated back to the bench.”
Kostopoulos denied he saw Timonen do anything out of the ordinary. For his part, Timonen said he didn't utter a word or make any insulting gestures to the Canadiens after the goal. But Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre and Carbonneau felt Timonen derided the Montreal players with a goading smile.
“He was smiling,” Lapierre said. “At the end of the day, we'll remember that play.”
Kostopoulos was given a roughing penalty, but so was Philadelphia forward Scott Hartnell, who went after the Montreal player to avenge the sucker punch.
“After that goal they should not have been taunting our players,” Carbonneau said. “They should have been happy and went to the bench. Don't turn around and narguer [scoff or deride] our players. He deserved it. That's why they didn't call any [extra] penalties on it.”
The league reviewed the incident, but deemed no further discipline was necessary. The NHL's hockey-operations department felt the penalty Kostopoulos received on the play was sufficient and took into consideration that Timonen wasn't injured.
Carbonneau was queried as to whether he'll use the perceived actions of the Flyers as inspiration for the third game Monday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
“I'm sure we're going to talk about it,” he said. “You use everything you can.”
In his postgame remarks, Flyers head coach John Stevens seethed when asked about the unpleasant incident, calling it “cowardly, in my opinion.”
Carbonneau smiled when asked for his opinion on Stevens's harsh words.
“They're one team that should not talk,” Carbonneau said. “They played 82 games and had the most suspensions. All [Kostopoulos] did was face-wash him. He didn't cross-check him in the face.”
Hartnell cross-checked Kostopoulos in the head in another scrum after a whistle at the side of the net in the second period, resulting in a roughing penalty for the Flyers' forward.
There were plenty of scrums after whistles. Even though these teams haven't met in the playoffs since 1989, there is a vicious rivalry.
The Canadiens ended the Flyers' Broad Street Bullies days in the 1976 Stanley Cup final with a sweep. In 1989, Flyers goalie Ron Hextall charged Montreal defenceman Chris Chelios in retaliation for a violent check that Chelios put on Brian Propp of the Flyers. Propp was knocked out after the hit.
Carbonneau is contemplating lineup changes for the third game, but he won't have veteran defenceman Patrice Brisebois at his disposal. He missed the second game with a leg injury that he suffered in the morning skate on Saturday and didn't travel with the Canadiens yesterday.
The Flyers hope to have forward Mike Knuble back for the fourth game on Wednesday. He has missed the past four playoff games with a hamstring ailment.
