NHL Fines Senators And Cousins For Warmup Conduct Toward Maple Leafs: Coaches Didn't Seem Bothered
The NHL fined the Ottawa Senators $25,000 and center Nick Cousins $2,083.33 for unsportsmanlike conduct tied to an incident in warmups before Game 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The NHL investigated an incident that occurred during the warmup ahead of Game 3, according to TSN's Darren Dreger and Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. In it, Senators players, including left winger Nick Cousins, shot pucks at Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz.
The Senators' fine goes to the NHL Foundation, while Cousins' fine, which was the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
Earlier on Friday, Senators coach Travis Green and Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube weighed in on the investigation between the two teams.
"It's an active investigation. I don't know if I should be commenting on that now," Green said, getting a few laughs from the media in attendance. He said he was kidding.
'I saw the video,' Green said. 'Nick Cousins and Stolarz have played together, he's probably trying to laugh at him or make a joke or get him off his game. It is what it is.'
Cousins and Stolarz were teammates when playing for the Florida Panthers and won the Stanley Cup together last season. They were also teammates in the early stages of their careers with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2016-17.
Berube had less to say on the incident.
'I don't think it's anything,' he said.
Berube even recalled warming up before a game for the Flyers in 1992 when his teammate, Keith Acton, fired pucks at the New York Rangers' net throughout the warmup to wind them up. Whatever happened with the Sens and Leafs on Thursday, it didn't end like the brouhaha between the Flyers and Rangers.
The investigation doesn't seem to concern either side of the Battle of Ontario, and it's seen as a joke or light-hearted teasing if anything.
If Cousins was looking to get Stolarz off his game, it didn't really work, as the Leafs goaltender stopped 18 of 20 shots the Senators threw at him. It was Stolarz's 11th straight win dating back to the end of the regular season. In that stretch, Stolarz has recorded a.944 save percentage, 1.53 goals-against average and three shutouts.
Game 4 of this series will take place on Saturday. Toronto has a 3-0 series lead over Ottawa.
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