According to CSN Philadelphia’s Tim Panaccio, there will be no supplementary discipline for Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo after the rule book was thrown at him during Philly’s 10-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
Rinaldo received two minutes for cross checking, two minutes for roughing, a 10-minute misconduct and was tossed from the game after this sequence with Pens defenseman Zbynek Michalek:
The news of no suspension set Twitter on fire, with Rinaldo’s comments acting as gasoline. The 21-year-old didn’t express any remorse about his actions and said he didn’t regret them, either.
“Frustrations. Built-up frustrations of a 9-3 deficit,” Rinaldo explained to CSN Philadelphia. “We were losing. And just frustrations came out of me. It happens in hockey. I roll with the punches.
“I don’t think I put my team down. It was already 9-3...I don’t regret doing it. My emotions. I wear my heart on my sleeve.”
Rinaldo avoided league discipline, but might still face some from Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. Rinaldo was skating with the “scratch line” at Thursday’s practice (alongside Tom Sestito and Matt Ford) and could be dropped from the Game 5 in favor of James van Riemsdyk.
While Laviolette might be loathe to change a lineup that built a commanding 3-1 series lead, he has to be concerned about Rinaldo’s penchant for taking penalties. He’s been whistled for at least one in every game and leads all playoff skaters with 46 PIM.