Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand is certainly one of them.
Last Friday, Marchand had a meeting with NHL Department of Player Safety due to this scuzzy slew foot that he deliberately threw at Detroit defenseman Nicklas Kronwall.
Amazingly, but not surprisingly, Marchand was not penalized for the egregious punk play on Kronwall. As his penalty, Marchand was slapped on the proverbial snout with a rolled up newspaper in the form of a $10,000 fine. The DPS called Marchand's actions a "dangerous trip".
Duh.
Had the NHL suspended Marchand on Friday, he would have been disqualified from playing in the NHL All Star Game this past weekend.
Don't ask me how Marchand got away with such a light verdict for such a seriously slew foot personal foul.
On Tuesday night in Tampa, Marchand was up to his old tricks. Again, he threw a cowardly slew foot at an unsuspecting Swedish defenseman. This time, Anton Stralman was the victim.
I would have thrown the book at Marchand after the Kronwall incident.
I would throw tho books at Marchand for Stralman hard foul.
It's a scumbag move to kick an opponent's feet out from underneath him. The victim could easily suffer a broken leg or knee ligament damage.
It's obvious that Marchand thinks that he is above the NHL laws that prohibit such arrogant, careless and inflammatory behavior. Once again, Marchand was not penalized by sewering Stralman with a slew foot.
**
Poor puck management and ugly turnovers doomed the Buffalo Sabres in Montreal on Tuesday night.
"It was turnovers feeding their speed," Jack Eichel said in the losing locker room.
"I mean a team like that you can’t turn the puck over. You think about the goals they got and opportunities they had, it was all from us giving them the puck in good positions to make plays. When you do that against a creative, fast team like the Canadiens they're going to make us pay and they made us pay."
Did they ever. The Sabres served an all you can eat buffet of frozen vulcanized rubber.
Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian was on the ice for all five Montreal's even strength goals against and finished the game as a -5 rating. Bogosian's D partner Cody Franson was -4 for the game.
There was enough failing grades to go around. It wasn't just Bogosin and Franson who made mistakes that led to goals against. Evander Kane, Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart and Marcus Foligno were a combined -9 in Montreal.
Don't blame Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner for this loss. His teammates were sleep walking for the first 55 minutes of the must-win game and they left the Big Swede flapping in the breeze.
Buffalo turned the puck over 18 times and did not do Lehner any favors as he was under siege by Montreal odd man rushes all night long. The Habs were no great shakes either giving the Sabres 17 turnovers of their own. The difference in the game was the Habs burying their charitable chances.
Max Pacioretty scored his second hat trick of the season to propel Montreal to a 5-2 win against the Buffalo.
Alexander Radulov and Phillip Danault assisted on each of Pacioretty's first two goals.
Pacioretty completed his sixth NHL hat trick early in the third period. Pacioretty scored an NHL career-high four goals in Montreal's 10-1 win against Colorado in December.
David Desharnais and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal (30-14-7).
With l a sliver under four minutes remaining in the forgettable game, Dmitry Kulikov broke Carey Prices's shutout by scoring his first goal in a Sabres uniform
Price, who made 37 save.
Brian Gionta scored on the power play to make it 5-2 in garbage time.
Robin Lehner made 30 saves for the Sabres (20-20-9), which has lost two straight games after winning three in a row in overtime, including 3-2 at Montreal on January 21.
**
Tuesday night's loos in Montreal was a microcosm if the Buffalo Sabres 2016-17 season.
The Sabres forwards and D give pucks away to opponents in scoring areas. The Buffalo D is busted and has been all season long.
Tim Murray needs to make a trade for an honest to goodness top four, left shot puck moving defenseman.
If that means trading away red hot power forward Evander Kane to get the defeneman, then so be it.
Due to injuries, Bylsma has been forced to play Bogosian-Franson and Falk-Fedun together.
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