If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve thought Dustin Brown was Public Enemy No. 1 in Arizona watching last night’s Game 2. Brown was the focus of a pair of violent events in getting his leg chopped by Coyotes goalie Mike Smith as well as getting shoved from behind by Martin Hanzal.
For Brown, he tells Chris Stevenson of SLAM! he’s seen worse in his short amount of time in the league. “I’ve probably been involved in dirtier games,” Brown said.
As for how he felt about the overall nasty tone of the game, he said he had a problem with two of the Coyotes’ hits in the game: Hanzal’s hit on him and Shane Doan’s hit from behind on Trevor Lewis that saw Doan tossed out of the game. Brown’s description of the Hanzal situation to Stevenson is snark-a-licious.
“From my point, I chip it by (Derek) Morris and I see (Keith) Yandle coming for the puck. I know there’s guys behind me. I didn’t think he was going to hit me, I guess. He probably saw my numbers from the top of the circle. He was behind me the whole way. It wasn’t like I turned or anything. I was going to get the puck. Yandle was the right side and I thought we were going to have a puck battle. Hanzal’s a big boy.”
Big enough to plant Brown into the boards, a hit severe enough to get the NHL’s attention. For what it’s worth, Brown wouldn’t comment as to whether or not he was hurt on the play. The Quiet Room is The Lonely Room come playoff time.