Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien has been fined $10,000 for his criticism of officials after his team’s 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday, the league announced.
Julien didn’t hold back in his post-game availability when he was asked whether he was more frustrated with his club after blowing a 3-0 lead or with the officiating.
The game featured a number of incidents that had Julien up in arms.
Max Domi was left bleeding profusely from a cut to his lip after a third-period collision with Stars defenceman Jamie Oleksiak. And it got worse after he took a straight arm to the face from Dallas forward Mattias Janmark in overtime.
Joel Armia got called for a hook in the second period on a one-handed stick lift. Then in overtime, he was pulled down on a rush that went uncalled. Meanwhile, Armia took a penalty taking down the Stars’ Andrej Sekera, allowing Dallas to score its second goal of the game.
Shortly before that goal, Ben Chiarot was on the receiving end of a trip in the offensive zone that went uncalled and responded by taking a one-handed swing at Blake Comeau out of frustration, which did receive a penalty.
Ilya Kovalchuk also took a slash that went unpenalized.
The OT loss gave the Canadiens their fourth consecutive defeat and moved them to 27-26-8 with 62 points. They sit nine points back of the final wild-card spot in the East.
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