New York Islanders
Islanders Notebook: No Bad Blood Between Mayfield, DeBrusk after Game 2 Cross-Check
There were no hard feels from Scott Mayfield towards Jake DeBrusk for his cross-check in Game 2 between the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins.
DeBrusk was given a $5,000 fine by the NHL on Wednesday for the third-period play, which had not resulted in a penalty at the time. The Boston forward ended up cross-checking Mayfield in the head while the two were fighting for position in front of the Islanders net.
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Mayfield was unfazed by the hit and on Thursday told reporters he didn’t have an ill-will towards DeBrusk for what happened.
“At the time that it happened, it kind of stunned me a little bit,” Mayfield said. “It was a hard battle in front and I think it just crossed the line a little bit, and that happens especially in the playoffs. That happens. There’s a fine line, I like to play on the edge too. I think there’s a lot of battles out there. I saw his comments and I think he even said something to me on the ice, so it’s all good and we just move on.”
By the way, and I know I’m late, but here is the dirty cross check by DeBrusk to the back of Scott Mayfield’s head pic.twitter.com/QmlX5XjyoS
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) June 1, 2021
The comments that Mayfield had been referring to were made by DeBrusk the day before. On Wednesday during a Zoom call with Boston media, DeBrusk acknowledged the fine.
He even called it “warranted.”
“Obviously, got my stick in a dangerous position there in front,” DeBrusk said, according to NESN. “Kind of realized it as the play was going on, obviously he went down pretty hard. He was able to come back, didn’t necessarily hurt him, so it’s one of those things where it’s heat of the battle, you’re in the front of the net, I just lost where my stick was. A fine is a fine, it’s a warning. It’s my first thing with player safety, so I understand that’s obviously not OK, and it won’t happen again.”
It’s no secret that the Boston Bruins’ top line took it to the New York Islanders pretty good in Game 1. One area that they dominated was the faceoff circle, in particular Patrice Bergeron.
In the opening game of the series, Bergeron won 13 of the 18 faceoffs that he took against the Islanders. That was good for a 72.2% success rate in the faceoff dot and Boston won that game 5-2. Interestingly enough, his success rate in the faceoff circle dropped the following game and the Islanders won 4-3 in overtime.
Bergeron won just eight of his faceoff draws in Game 2.
“He’s tough He’s a veteran guy who is good with his stick,” fellow centerman Brock Nelson said. “He’ knows how to change it up. He’s strong on his backhand. Gets low, so try to have to go about it in different ways. Find different tactics to try and get some tie-ups. You’re not always going to beat him clean. He’s one of the best in the league to do it, so you have to go in there and get all three guys trying to help out and tackle it, and win some loose pucks.”
Kevin Miller will not make an appearance for Boston during Game 3 and Game 4 on Long Island this week against the New York Islanders.
Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed on Thursday morning that Miller, who has not played yet in this series, did not make the trip to the Island. Miller has been sidelined with an upper-body injury since he took a hit from Dmitry Orlov in Game 4 of Boston’s First Round Series with the Washington Capitals.
“The timeline is he’s not here, so we don’t anticipate Game 3 or Game 4 for him,” Cassidy said ahead of Game 3 on Thursday. “He’s easing his way back in. He’s made some progress, but obviously not enough that he’s back with the team.”
The Islanders and Boston return to Massachusettes for Game 5 on Monday.