Vigneault not pleased with play which led to Raffl injury

Michael Raffl

Slew-footing in hockey is about as dirty as it gets, so when Flyers coach Alain Vigneault even implied Boston’s Jeremy Lauzon may have committed such an act against the Flyers’ Michael Raffl on Sunday, eyebrows were raised.

Raffl, who had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Bruins at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, was approaching the boards near the player benches with 6:17 to play in the third period when he collided with Lauzon.

Raffl fell to the ice clutching his left knee and later had to be helped to the locker room, although it appeared he was able to put some weight on the leg as he limped off.

Angered by the play, Scott Laughton jumped in and shoved the offending player. Vigneault applauded that move.

“I looked at it quickly, I haven’t watched the replay,’’ Vigneault said in a Zoom teleconference call from Toronto. “It seemed close to being a slew-foot. I would have to see the replay again.

“He (Raffl) fell awkwardly into the boards. We’re waiting to find out exactly what’s going on.’’

Laughton was particularly irked by Lauzon’s questionable tactic.

However, he said he wanted to see a replay (which he hadn’t prior to the press briefing) before passing judgment.

Ditto teammate Nate Thompson.

“I kind of caught the end of it,’’ he said. “I was out there but I kind of saw him go down. It happened fast. Hopefully he’s all right.’’

>Stopping Boston top line a key

Any time a team can keep Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak off the scoreboard, the odds of winning go up substantially.

All three failed to register a goal in Sunday’s game.

“I think our guys did a good job, especially ‘Coots’ line (Sean Couturier, Jake Voracek, Claude Giroux) playing against them,’’ Laughton said. “I thought we did a good job, they’re a dangerous trio.

“It’s tough. They’re so good on the power play, and five-on-five. So you have to be aware of it. I thought we did a good job in the second and third periods of staying over top of guys and not giving them too much space. Our ‘D’ pinched down the wall, that and Coots’ line.’’

>Stellar second defense pairing

Phil Myers scored a big goal late in the second period just eight seconds after Boston cut the Flyers lead to 2-1.

Meanwhile, Travis Sanheim made a highlight reel pass to Raffl to set up his goal to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Quite a night for the defense pairing.

“It (the Myers goal) was huge,’’ Laughton said. “They scored to get one back and I thought we did a good job of that all year pretty much (bouncing back quickly), of not letting it affect us.’’

It was Myers first NHL postseason game but he didn’t seem too jittery out there.

“Maybe before the first shift I was a little nervous,’’ he said. “We (Myers-Sanheim) were clicking today. We were making plays, we were calm and composed with the puck.

“We’ve been together in the Flyers’ organization for like five years. We have a lot of chemistry, a lot of similarities in our games. It’s fun playing with him, looking forward to playing in the playoff with him and taking this head-on.’’

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About Wayne Fish 2374 Articles
Wayne Fish has been covering the Flyers since 1976, a stint which includes 18 Stanley Cup Finals, four Winter Olympics and numerous other international events.

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