It’s safe to say San Jose’s had Friday’s date with the Blues circled on the calendar for a long time.
After Dan Boyle tersely addressed his grudge with Maxim Lapierre -- saying he wasn’t willing to shake hands and make amends for Lapierre’s hit from behind in early October -- Sharks tough guy Mike Brown said the Blues forward should be willing to fight tonight.
“Me, personally, I would own up to it if I did something like that,” Brown told CSN Bay Area. “I can’t speak for everyone else... The type of player I am, I’m ready to answer the bell if it was the other way around.
“I can’t tell you what he’s feeling.”
The hit was one of the uglier ones of the campaign, concussing Boyle and forcing him to miss seven games. Lapierre served a five-game suspension for the incident and has both apologized and exchanged texts with Boyle, but said the back-and-forth did nothing to mend fences.
“I called him for a few days and he didn’t answer,” Lapierre told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “After that, I texted him and we explained what we were thinking, both sides and I can’t say he’s happy with it.
“But this is what it is.”
Lapierre said he’s “ready to face the music,” tonight in San Jose and, based on his history, will probably drop the gloves with someone. He fought a career-high seven times in his last full season (2011-12, with Vancouver) and fought San Jose’s Andrew Desjardins in response to the Boyle hit last game.
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