By Damian Cristodero, Times Staff Writer
Monday, March 7, 2011
Chalk this one up under the category of a coach trying to gain an edge for his team by planting a seed in the head of the opposition and the referees. How else to explain Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau saying Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos dives to draw penalties?
Boudreau also mentions right wing Steve Downie, who will not even play tonight because of an ankle injury. It was the inclusion of Stamkos that was most surprising.
Here is what Boudreau said Monday morning after an innocent question about the emotional level going up in games between the Lightning and Capitals. A decent question, asked by a reporter from the Washington Post, considering tonight's game is for first place in the Southeast division and the Lightning has beaten Washington, the three-time division champ, twice by shutouts.
"Quite frankly I think from the beginning we didn't know what to expect the first couple of games," Boudreau said. "Once they took the lead on us and then they beat us 1-0 and then they beat us 3-0, it sort of, you know, started to say, 'Hey we don't like these guys. We don't like the way they dive every two seconds. They lead the league in power play attempts because guys like Downie, even though he might not be playing tonight, but if I was a referee I'd never make a call on him ever. He dives every two seconds, Stamkos dives every two seconds. So you start to get a hate on for guys like that. So, it'll be interesting."
He's right about one thing, the Lightning enters Monday with a league-high 271 power-play chances, compared to 219 for the Capitals. But Stamkos a diver?
"I don't even know what to say to that," Stamkos said. "I don't know if he's trying to use that to get us thinking about other things. I'm not really worried about what he has to say."
Neither was Lightning coach Guy Boucher, who sent a little dig back Boudreau's way.
"I have more respect for the players to say their players or our players are divers," Boucher said.