Hurricanes Brind’Amour Fined For Blistering Postgame Comments

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour was fined $25,000 Wednesday night for his postgame comments earlier in the day.

Brind’Amour didn’t sugarcoat a thing after his team’s 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their First Round series in Toronto. Brind’Amour was quick to give credit to the Bruins, but the longtime NHL’er was also critical of both his team and the NHL’s officials postgame.

“Anytime you lose in the playoffs, especially in overtime, it’s obviously a stinger,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s what I thought was going to happen, unfortunately. I knew they were going to play a good hockey game. Knew we were going to get the best of the Bruins. I thought they were really good, and I was afraid we were going to be a little sluggish and we were. That’s to their credit. They played a better game than we did overall. I thought we got back into it a little, but we weren’t good enough to win that game.”

The good news for Rod Brind’Amour and his team? They won’t have time to dwell on Wednesday’s disappointment. The Hurricanes and Bruins will be right back at it tomorrow night for Game 2 at 8:00 pm. It’s a small positive.

“I think that’s a bonus,” Brind’Amour said when asked about the back-to-back situation. “When you lose a game like that, you definitely don’t want to marinate on it too long. When you’ve got a chance to come back and play right away, I think that’s good. Especially because we have been sitting for so long. We’ll try to sure up a couple of things and get right back at it. That’s what you want.”

BRIND’AMOUR SNAPS AT OFFICIALS

Rod Brind’Amour wasn’t just upset with his team after the loss. He was not thrilled with the NHL’s officials. Brind’Amour did not think Charlie Coyle’s goal in the second period, which gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead, should have counted. He also wasn’t thrilled with the process of trying to challenge the goal.

“He comes to me and says pick one, I’m like, well it’s one of the two. There’s absolutely no way that can be a goal,” Brind’Amour told reports. “He’s putting it on me to pick it, well you tell me what you’re calling. You’re calling he had it? Then it’s a *expletive* goalie interference.

“If you’re saying he didn’t have it? You’re not telling me what call you’re making and I have to pick one? Then they go upstairs and say “Oh, he had possession”? It’s horsesh*t. This is where the league is a joke.”

Brind’Amour didn’t stop there. The second-year coach made sure to get shots in at the off-ice officials upstairs as well.

“The guys up there that aren’t putting any sweat equity into this game decide the game. It’s wrong,” Brind’Amour continued. “He doesn’t tell me what the call on the ice is? If it’s not a glove-hand pass I would’ve said OK, then that’s *expletive* goalie interference. There’s no way that’s a goal in any league. We have a million people doing this and they can’t get it right. That’s the problem with this league.”

THIS N’ THAT

Justin Williams and Sami Vatanen were late scratches for the Hurricanes on Wednesday. Brind’Amour is hopeful to have both tomorrow night, but that’s it.

“I hope so. That’s about all I can say on that. They are definitely a possibility.”

One positive in this loss for the Hurricanes? Their ability shorthanded. The Hurricanes got a Brock McGinn goal shorthanded to tie the game seconds after Coyle’s go-ahead goal.

“They have a great power play. We don’t want to be taking all of these penalties,” Brind’Amour said. “That call was, to get the penalty, I still can’t figure that out. But it got us back into the game. It gave us a chance anyway, to pull out a win. The penalty kill was good.”