The physicality in the Stanley Cup Playoffs has ramped up with a couple of suspensions being handed out to Nazem Kadri and Joe Thornton.
Kadri will miss the rest of the first-round series against the Boston Bruins for a cross-check to the head of Jake DeBrusk, while Thornton was given a one-game suspension for his hit on Tomas Nosek.
According to Don Cherry, he expected Kadri to get five games, which could happen if the series were to go seven games.
“I thought they were very good on this,” Cherry said during Coach’s Corner Monday night. You never, ever, ever crosscheck a guy in the face [like he did].”
Both Kadri and DeBrusk have been going after each other since Game 1. Tempers boiled over in Game 2 when Kadri was on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee hit that went unpenalized and DeBrusk followed that up with a hit on Marleau near the benches.
Cherry believes the situation could have been avoided if Kadri challenged DeBrusk to a fight.
“If they drop the gloves right off the bat, there is no trouble,” said Cherry. “If you drop the gloves, five minute major and it’s over.”
The 85-year-old prefers the players settle their differences in the manner Evander Kane and Ryan Reaves did when they dropped the gloves. Reaves and Kane have made it known that they do not like each other, taking any chance they get to go after each other on the ice. They’ve also been seen yelling at each other from the bench, which ultimately sparked a fight between the two.
“I cannot stand two guys when they have the stickwork in there, that is a club you have in your hand, that’s how guys get hurt,” Cherry said about Kane and Reaves deciding to fight rather than continually take shots at each other with their sticks.
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