Any thought that there would be no further controversy going into Thursday's matchup between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens went out the window on Wednesday with Bruins forward Mark Recchi's appearance on a Boston radio station.
Speaking to 98.5 Sport Hub in Boston, Recchi questioned the severity of Max Pacioretty's injury and the Canadiens' intentions towards defenceman Zdeno Chara.
"I believe they were trying to get Zdeno suspended and they embellished (Pacioretty's concussion) a little bit," Rechi told said on the radio station.
Recchi went on to say that based on a tweet from Pacioretty's Twitter account that referenced going to the movies, his concussion could not have been as severe as indicated.
For their part, the rest of the Bruins speaking after practice on Wednesday had a much different tune.
Chara, who has not yet spoken with Pacioretty, was happy to hear about the improvements in the Montreal forward's condition.
"Obviously I'm glad that he's doing much better and that's he's going to be probably playing, based on reports," Chara told reporters. "I'm glad that he's going to be fine and that's good news."
The six-foot-nine defenceman also indicated that he knows he can't convince the Canadiens or their fans that the outcome of the hit was not his intention.
"It's one of those things that they probably believe something and it's hard to explain that it just happened," said Chara. "It was a really bad accident unfortunately, I don't think even in rivalries anyone is trying to hurt anybody. I can't control what they talk about or what they say about me, I just try to focus on my game. "
Bruins defenceman Andrew Ference understands the fans of the Canadiens are going to react in support of their club, no matter the situation.
"It's going to happen in a hockey environment like that," said Ference. "If something happens to your home team, people are going to be emotional and that's the nature of sports. That's life and that's part of what you sign up for when you play sports."
Forward Milan Lucic furthered that sentiment.
"We don't play this game to hurt people, it's good to see that he'll be back to playing the game he loves," added Lucic.
The Bruins and Canadiens will conclude their season series on Thursday and you can watch the game live on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt.
