After serving a two-game suspension for putting Montreal’s Lars Eller in the hospital with an “illegal” open-ice hit, Senators rookie defenseman Eric Gryba will be back in the lineup tonight for Game 4 in Ottawa.
The question now is, will the Canadiens do anything about it?
“I’m sure guys are going to look for an opportunity to take a run at me,” the 25-year-old said, per Sportsnet’s Ian Mendes. “But it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”
As we wrote yesterday, once the puck drops, the Habs will likely be focused on winning the game, not settling scores. They’re down 2-1 in the series and would love to go back to Montreal having regained home-ice advantage.
But if the game is decided before the final horn sounds, viewers might want to keep watching.
Zack Smith on Habs: "If they're going into the game worried about Eric and wanting payback, that's only going to work to our benefit."
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) May 7, 2013