Connor Dewar has been pretty feisty in his short time as a Penguin, and that was noticeable in the Penguins' 7-3 loss to the Sabres here in Buffalo tonight.
That came to a head in the third period.
Dewar was racing for a puck when Sabres defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker hit Dewar hard. The initial impact sent Dewar flying into the boards, with his head making contact as he fell. Bernard-Docker fell into him, impacting Dewar's head again.
Kevin Hayes came flying onto the scene and crashed into Bernard-Docker as he stood up. But Dewar promptly sprung up and dropped his gloves, grabbing Bernard-Docker. He gave Bernard-Docker a moment to drop his own gloves, and the two had a brief fight, with Dewar getting the better of Bernard-Docker:
"I took an iffy hit, put myself in a bad spot there," Dewar explained. "Just the emotion boiled over."
It's nice to see Dewar stand up for himself, but it's a little worrying in a circumstance like that one after he did just take a big blow to the head from the hit itself. I asked him if he had any hesitation in dropping the gloves because of that, and he said, "Honestly, I got up and was seeing red. I was ready to go."
Dewar did leave for the Penguins' locker room to get checked out, but returned before his fighting major was even over. He inexplicably got a roughing penalty in addition to the major, putting the Penguins on a two-minute penalty-kill.
Mike Sullivan didn't have a problem with Dewar's actions at all. His only issue was with the phantom roughing.
"I don't blame him one bit," Sullivan told me. "I think he was in a compromising position, three feet off the boards, and it was a very hard hit. I don't blame him one bit. I thought it was brutal that he got the extra two minutes. It wasn't like he got up and sucker-punched the guy, he let him drop his gloves. I thought it was a terrible call on their part."
THE ASYLUM
Drive to the Net: Dewar 'seeing red'
Connor Dewar has been pretty feisty in his short time as a Penguin, and that was noticeable in the Penguins' 7-3 loss to the Sabres here in Buffalo tonight.
That came to a head in the third period.
Dewar was racing for a puck when Sabres defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker hit Dewar hard. The initial impact sent Dewar flying into the boards, with his head making contact as he fell. Bernard-Docker fell into him, impacting Dewar's head again.
Kevin Hayes came flying onto the scene and crashed into Bernard-Docker as he stood up. But Dewar promptly sprung up and dropped his gloves, grabbing Bernard-Docker. He gave Bernard-Docker a moment to drop his own gloves, and the two had a brief fight, with Dewar getting the better of Bernard-Docker:
"I took an iffy hit, put myself in a bad spot there," Dewar explained. "Just the emotion boiled over."
It's nice to see Dewar stand up for himself, but it's a little worrying in a circumstance like that one after he did just take a big blow to the head from the hit itself. I asked him if he had any hesitation in dropping the gloves because of that, and he said, "Honestly, I got up and was seeing red. I was ready to go."
Dewar did leave for the Penguins' locker room to get checked out, but returned before his fighting major was even over. He inexplicably got a roughing penalty in addition to the major, putting the Penguins on a two-minute penalty-kill.
Mike Sullivan didn't have a problem with Dewar's actions at all. His only issue was with the phantom roughing.
"I don't blame him one bit," Sullivan told me. "I think he was in a compromising position, three feet off the boards, and it was a very hard hit. I don't blame him one bit. I thought it was brutal that he got the extra two minutes. It wasn't like he got up and sucker-punched the guy, he let him drop his gloves. I thought it was a terrible call on their part."
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