CHICAGO -- Seated on the Chicago Blackhawks bench, Andrew Shaw grabbed the Nashville Predators' Mike Ribeiro and held him from skating away during Game 3 of their first-round series on Sunday.
Ribeiro responded and punched Shaw in the face.
In any other sport, such an altercation would be a major deal. In Shaw and Ribeiro’s sport, it can be shrugged off.
“It’s hockey,” Shaw said prior to Game 4 on Tuesday. “It’s going to happen. You’re going to get hit. You’re going to get punched. You move on. Just get prepared for the next one.”
Ribeiro was even less interested to comment about the incident.
“It doesn't really matter,” Ribeiro said after Game 3. “It's nothing. It's part of the game. There's no reason to talk about it.”
Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville didn’t exactly want to discuss it either Tuesday, but he acknowledged it’s not the type of behavior the NHL condones.
“I think the league has standards and that’s one of the things that they frown upon, and players engaging from the bench or from the ice to the bench are no-nos,” Quenneville said. “They watch that closely. I’m not going there, any more than that.”
The NHL did take notice and reviewed the incident, but the NHL Department of Player Safety did not feel it warranted supplemental discipline, according to a league source.
Shaw couldn’t remember being punched on the bench before, but he wasn’t surprised by it. As the series continues, he anticipated more of the same.
“In the playoffs, you got to expect everything,” Shaw said. “Anything can happen. You just got to play hard and play through the whistles.
“You’re playing the same guys in and out. You know you’re lining up against the same line every time. The intensity is going to pick up. There’s going to be a lot of physical play.”
