Around the midway point of Saturday’s Boston-Philadelphia game there was a bit of a weird play that led to a five-minute power play for the Bruins.
With the Flyers on the attack, Jakub Voracek chipped the puck into the Bruins zone and chased it down into the corner with Boston defenceman Kevan Miller in pursuit. As the two got to the puck, Voracek turned to either hit Miller with his butt. Miller turned at the same time and as a result, Voracek was deemed to have hit Miller from behind and earned a five-minute major.
Miller was forced to leave and did not return.
After the game, a 6-3 Flyers loss, Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall talked about the penalty.
“It was a terrible call,” Hextall said, according to the Courier-Post. “In my mind it wasn’t a penalty. Jake goes in to forecheck, which is what he’s supposed to do. Their guy puts himself in a bad position, which we try and teach our guys not to, and he takes contact. Saw Jake coming. I don’t understand why that was called. To me, it’s not a two-minute minor, let alone a five-minute penalty.”
At the time of the incident the Bruins held a 3-2 lead and they managed to add another goal on the man advantage. They scored another even strength goal late in the second period and in the end, ran away with the game.
“Did it affect the game? Yes. Did it lose us the game? No,” Hextall said.
The Flyers aren’t expecting the NHL to follow up with any supplemental discipline.
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Said Voracek of the hit: “I just tried to go butt-to-butt with him and bump him so I can win the puck battle after it. I was doing it a lot throughout the season and my career. Like I said, it’s an unfortunate play and hopefully he’s gonna be a long and hopefully he won’t be out for too long.”
The Bruins didn’t have an update on Miller after the game.
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