New York Rangers' Brandon Prust suspended for Game 4 -NHL Playoffs Update
New York Rangers will be playing without one of their top forwards come Game 4 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Playoff Finals against New Jersey Devils after Brandon Prust was given a one-game suspension for his elbow to defenseman, Anton Volchenkov.
The incident occurred during the opening minutes of Game 3 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday, May 19, 2012, while Prust was given a chance to put forth his side of the story.
The league, taking into consideration that he had just one similar penalty during the past 300 plus matchups he has played in his career, decided to give him just one-game in order to serve as a punishment.
"I was trying to rub him out and get off the ice. He bailed on it a bit, turned and went low. It's just kind of a reaction when you're off-balance and your arms go up. I didn't want to do a faceplant into the boards," Prust said. "It was just kind of a reaction. I had no intent to hit him in the head there. There was nothing vicious about it."
New York Rangers’ head coach, John Tortorella, also came out in the open and defended his forward player, saying that he does not play such a rough game let alone aim for the head during a check.
"Prust has played probably 300-plus games without any hearing, anything going on with him. He's probably one of the most honest players," Tortorella said.
Luckily, Volchenkov was not injured despite the fact that he went down right after the hit, holding the back of his head lying face down. Prust talked to the NHL’s chief disciplinarian, senior vice president for player safety and hockey operations Brendan Shanahan, over the phone on Sunday, May 20, prior to the announcement being made.
Playing without a power forward like Prust could certainly put New York at a disadvantage. Prust has one assist in 17 games played so far with 27 minutes in penalty time. He provides crucial defensive depth on the opposing side and will definitely have New Jersey Devils breathing a lot easier come Game 4 on Monday.
Tags: