Ilya Kovalchuk was scratched from Saturday night’s game at Prudential Center against the Sabres for being 10 minutes late to the Devils’ morning meeting, The Post has learned.
According to a well-placed source, head coach John MacLean made the decision to scratch the high-profile, $100 million winger without conversing with Kovalchuk. General manager Lou Lamoriello was not consulted by MacLean before Kovalchuk was informed he would not dress for the match.
The decision, rendered without explanation by the notoriously tight-lipped organization, sparked speculation — that somehow evolved into accepted fact — that Kovalchuk missed an entire meeting.
It appears that MacLean, an offense-minded player who clashed with head coach Jacques Lemaire during his decorated career in New Jersey (347 goals, 701 points in 934 games) before demanding a trade early in the 1997-98 season because he did not like his role, used Kovalchuk’s first incident of tardiness as an example in an attempt to send a message to his wobbly team.
The Devils, who lost 6-1 to the Sabres before losing 3-1 to the Rangers on Sunday at the Garden with a reinstated and all-but-silent Kovalchuk scoring the club’s only goal, are 2-6-1 as they open the West Coast portion of a six-game road trip tonight in San Jose.
Kovalchuk leads the Devils in scoring with six points (3-3), and is tied with Zach Parise for the club goal-scoring lead.