BOSTON - Bruins forward Milan Lucic called Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin "a chicken" after the Canadiens snapped Boston's winning streak at 12 games with a 2-1 shootout win at TD Garden.
Early in the first period, Emelin upended Lucic with a clean, open-ice hip check in the neutral zone. Bruins captain Zdeno Chara took exception to the hit and tried to get Emelin to drop the gloves but he did not oblige and Chara was given a two-minute roughing penalty at 1:19.
"Whether it's fair, legal or whatever you want to call it, if he wasn't scared, he would stand up and hit me and not go after my knees," Lucic said. "It just shows how big of a chicken he is that he needs to go down like that to take me down. It shows what kind of player he is, and on my end, you know you've got to keep your guard up at all times."
Lucic and Emelin continued their physical play throughout the game. Late in the third period, the video replay showed Lucic hit Emelin in the backside with the toe of his stick, but it's unclear exactly where he connected. Emelin skated off the ice hunched over.
"Just skating by him and that's all," Lucic said. "People are trying to say I speared him. I did not spear him, so that's it."
