Brad Marchand appears to intentionally injure a Leafs defenseman; no penalty call on the play
In two recent games, the Toronto Maple Leafs were forced to play short a defenseman after injuries to Jake McCabe and Timothy Liljegren (in separate games) resulted in the Buds having to play with just 5 defensemen. Now, we may have our third occurrence in a little over a week.
With less than a minute to go in the first period of Thursday's matchup against the Boston Bruins, Liljegren found himself engaged in a puck race with Bruins winger Brad Marchand. Unfortunately for Liljegren, Marchand got his stick between Liljegren's feet and hooked one of his legs out from under him, sending the young blueliner crashing hard into the end boards feet first.
Liljegren remained on the ice for a few moments, attempting to make it back to his feet, but was nearly unable to, clearly labouring. The worst part about it? Despite the fact that it was a clear cut penalty, the officials opted not to penalize Marchand on the play. For those wondering who tonight's officiating team is, it's Francois St. Laurent and none other than Wes McCauley.
Liljegren did glide off the ice under his own power, but needed the help of the trainers once he got to the bench to make his way down the tunnel. Not good news for a Leafs team who is already down a top-4 defenseman in Jake McCabe. It's even worse when you consider that they'll now likely be forced to rely a little more on John Klingberg than they maybe would have liked to.
| POLL | ||
2 NOVEMBRE | 669 ANSWERS Brad Marchand appears to intentionally injure a Leafs defenseman; no penalty call on the play Does Brad Marchand deserve a suspension for this dangerous, dirty trip on Timothy Liljegren? | ||
| Absolutely. Throw the book at him | 511 | 76.4 % |
| No, just an innocent play gone wrong | 27 | 4 % |
| It should have been a penalty, but no suspension | 131 | 19.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
