Sheldon Keefe speaks out about Bunting's match penalty in Game 1, disagrees with the official's decision
By now, I'm sure just about everyone has seen Michael Bunting's hit on Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak during the 2nd period of last night's Game 1. On the off-chance that you missed it, you can see the replay below.
Bunting was assessed a match penalty as a result of the hit, even though he wasn't even looking in Cernak's direction when he made contact. The hit was a bad one, but there was certainly no intent to injure. It was more of an unfortunate result on what should have been a routine play than anything else - something that Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe insinuated during his post-game media availability last night.
"In terms of the call, I don't have a lot of thoughts on that but Bunts, to me, is trying to win the line and set himself up to win a race for the puck. It got away from him and their guy wasn't expecting it. I'm sure Bunts is expecting a battle in that situation and didn't get one." - Sheldon Keefe on Bunting's match penalty for an illegal check to the head
Bunting is awaiting a hearing with the Department of Player Safety, which is set to take place at 3pm ET today. It's more than likely going to result in a suspension, which might be warranted had the precedent been set, but with a similar hit from Matt Dumba going unpunished during Game 1 of the Dallas/Minnesota series, this is a tough pill to swallow for Leaf fans.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 19 | 620 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe speaks out about Bunting's match penalty in Game 1, disagrees with the official's decision Do you agree with Sheldon Keefe's take on the Michael Bunting hit? | ||
| Yes | 454 | 73.2 % |
| No | 166 | 26.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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