According to Fox Sports Tennessee, Predators agitator Jordin Tootoo won’t face any additional discipline for shoving linesman Pierre Champoux during a 5-4 loss to Los Angeles.
Midway through the third period, Tootoo got into a scrum with Kings defenseman Matt Greene. Champoux intervened, but inadvertently struck Tootoo with his helmet -- to which Tootoo responded by shoving the veteran official.
Tootoo received a 10-minute misconduct for his actions, but was saved from further punishment thanks to an intervention from head coach Barry Trotz.
“I talked to the supervisor [Mick McGeough],’' Trotz said. “They had a supervisor at the game and he saw the situation where the linesman actually, inadvertently, really head-butted Toots with his helmet right in the face, so your natural reaction is to push away when you get punched in the face, especially when there’s people scrumming around.
“They talked about that and they asked me if I would just talk to Toots and make sure that he knew that and so I don’t anticipate anything come from it. That was their statement to me.”
(Mike Organ of The Tennessean also confirms no supplementary discipline for Tootoo.)
Even though he appears to be off the hook, Tootoo feared his actions would be costly. He’s already been suspended once this season (two games for bowling over Sabres goalie Ryan Miller) and has a reputation for making poor snap decisions, stemming from this incident with Dallas’ Stephane Robidas:
Tootoo said he regretting shoving Champoux.
“My initial reaction when someone hits you in the head, that’s your first reaction is to protect yourself and it was a situation that happened in a split-second,’' he said. “As far as I know, it’s been dealt with. That’s not part of my DNA is to do what I did. It’s just a reaction protecting myself.
“I’m sorry for what happened. We just got to move on from the situation.’'