Injured Montreal Canadiens right winger Max Pacioretty told Canadian sports network TSN late Wednesday night that he thought Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara’s devestating hit on him Tuesday night was purposeful.
Speaking to the network from his hospital room, Pacioretty questioned the NHL’s lack of sanction on Chara, especially given the severity of his injuries (fractured vertebrae and concussion):
“I am upset and disgusted that the league didn’t think enough of (the hit) to suspend him…I’m not mad for myself, I’m mad because if other players see a hit like that and think it’s okay, they won’t be suspended, then other players will get hurt like I got hurt.”
While Chara denies that he knew he was hitting Pacioretty at the “turnbuckle” part of the boards and that he had any intent to injure, Pacioretty disagrees:
“I heard (Chara) said he didn’t mean to do it. I felt he did mean to do it. I would feel better if he said he made a mistake and that he was sorry for doing that, I could forgive that, but I guess he’s talking about how I jumped up or something…I believe he was trying to guide my head into the turnbuckle. We all know where the turnbuckle is.”