Below is an excerpt from the Boston Globe article by Fluto Shinzawa who interviewed Claude Julien after the game about Georges Laraque constant badgering of Milan Lucic. Julien almost seemed amused by Carbonneau’s strategy when he states: “And if they want Georges to shadow him, more ice time for him. Good for him”……translated: Give Laraque as much ice time as you want, we’ll take that trade off every game!!!!
“There was no way it was going to happen,” said coach Claude Julien, who had, before the game, forbidden Lucic from fighting Laraque. “[Shawn] Thornton was there, ready for Georges. Nothing happened. My tough guy was ready for their tough guy. Simple as that. I told him not to fight. It was me.”
Julien’s theory was that Lucic is a first-line player who has clicked with fellow gunners Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. Laraque, on the other hand, is scoreless and averaged only 7:50 of time on ice per match before last night.
First-line wing to square off against a fourth-liner who’s considered one of the toughest guys in the NHL? Julien wasn’t having it.
“A guy has to do a job,” said Julien. “[Laraque] shadowed Lucic tonight. That was his job. Simple as that. For us, I think Lucic is a good player. And if they want Georges to shadow him, more ice time for him. Good for him.”
Lucic landed a game-high nine hits last night but never dropped the gloves. Instead, Lucic scored his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at 11:11 of the second period.
Not to say, I told you you so, but it seems that Julien confirms what I stated in my game review. I wrote that he forbid Lucic to fight and that in fact, he didn’t mind Laraques gobbling up so much ice time on the first line.
In that sense Julien won the coaching battle with Carbonneau. When Lucic scored later in the game, it was a bonus for coach Julien’s strategy.
You would have to say that Lucic is at least as important to the Bruins as Komisarek is to the Habs. So it seems a bit of a double standard to complain about Mike having to fight all his own battles but expecting that Lucic should.
Rob, it’s not the same thing. Komisarek fighting Lucic is two important players going at it. It’s like Koivu and Briere for example. I would have no problems with that. Koivu fighting a random jobber playing 6 minutes a game would be a stupid move.
I thought this article would make you happy, Rocket…..LOL!!!
If you listened to the Team 990 morning show today, you’d think Carbo was the best coach in the NHL……”great coaching” was one of the commentator’s comments!!!…..give me a break!!
It was a decent move to start the game but Carbo should have made adjustments as the game proceeded into the second period.
Yes, I did love the article. Thanks Habster!!
Lucic is very selective in who he fights. He goes after Komisarek or Nick Boynton..guys who don’t fight that much but runs to the bench when challenged by Laraque. Rob, I think that Lucic opened the door to being challenged due to his over-the-top celebration after the fight with MK.
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