Montreal Canadiens forward Brandon Prust had a night to forget on Sunday, as he racked up a whopping 31 penalty minutes in his team’s Game 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In addition to hitting Lightning goalie Ben Bishop behind the net and getting into it with Braydon Coburn, Prust also had some issues with referee Brad Watson.
Prust told reporters that Watson provoked him and continually cursed at him after he hit Prust with a roughing penalty in the first period.
“I thought the original call was kind of soft and I let him know it on the way to the penalty box, Prust said after the game, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. “He kept provoking me. He came to the box and called me every name in the book. He called me a piece of you know what, a mother-f’er, coward, said he’d drive me right out of this building. I kept going, ‘Yeah OK, yeah OK, yeah OK.’ He kept on me, he kept on me. I kept saying ‘Yeah OK.’
“I wasn’t looking at him and he teed me up. That’s the ref he is. He tried to play God. He tries to control the game and he did that tonight.”
The exchange Prust was describing was the start of what turned out to be an embarrassing night for him. After being called for roughing on Coburn in the first period and getting an additional two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, Prust tripped Bishop behind the net late in the third period.
The trip initially drew a two-minute penalty, but Prust got another five for fighting Coburn, 10 for misconduct and 10 for game misconduct. As he was heading to the Canadiens bench with his team trailing 6-2, Prust whipped his elbow pad at Steven Stamkos. Here’s a video of all that:
As the SN broadcast reminded us, Prust has a history with Bishop. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game that he believes Prust was trying to injure Bishop when he took him out on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are in serious trouble. They now head to Tampa Bay down 0-2 in the series, and it would’t be shocking if Prust is suspended for a game after his temper tantrum and bashing of Watson.
H/T Eye on Hockey
