The Devils’ prize rookie draftee might miss tomorrow’s visit to Philadelphia because of the crumpling hit P.K. Subban laid on him last night. The Canadiens think Adam Larsson should sit out anyway by suspension.
The sight of Larsson stretched out on the ice was an example of vigilante retaliation, a team taking punishment into its own hands after refs missed alleged infractions.
The Devils said Larsson suffered a “lower back bruise.” There’s also the possibility Patrik Elias might be reprimanded for his boarding penalty that knocked Mike Blunden out of the game.
But those were the sour notes in their otherwise rousing, 5-3 comeback victory over the Canadiens at Prudential Center.
“Pretty sweet,” said coach Pete DeBoer. “A real gutsy effort.”
The Canadiens were incensed, expecting after-the-fact league discipline today, for what they claim was a Larsson “slew-foot” on Louis Leblanc in the final moments of the second period. Larsson had his head down dangling with the puck inside the Habs blue line, and Subban stepped up and smeared him with a massive sledgehammer to the chest.
It took minutes for Larsson to rise shakily, helped off by Alex Ponikarovsky and David Clarkson. He tapped gloves with Subban on his way off, but did not speak to the press.
The Devils can ill afford to be without Larsson tomorrow. They’re already missing Henrik Tallinder, and Kurtis Foster was benched the final 38 minutes after several costly errors.
Amid the heavy hitting, the Devils overcame an 0-2 deficit for their second straight victory, and a 3-2-1 record on their season-longest six-game homestand. David Clarkson and Zach Parise each scored twice, Ilya Kovalchuk had three assists, and Martin Brodeur was again superb, confounding his critics once more.
“This one, we could have folded, but we pulled it off,” Brodeur said.
The Devils went with seven defensemen because of Bryce Salvador’s ailing ankle, which left him falling at several inopportune moments in Tuesday’s victory over the Rangers. Salvador played, and so did Matt Taormina, and after he benched Foster and lost Larsson, DeBoer needed them.
The Canadiens, 3-5-2 in 10, grabbed the opening lead when Rene Bourque bounced the puck in from the left side off David Deschamais, standing in the crease behind Brodeur.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead at 9:23 when Andrei Kostitsyn found himself alone in front with Yannick Weber’s rebound.