PHILADELPHIA – Within seconds of the incident in which Eric Lindros responded to a Petr Nedved hook at the shoulders by bringing his stick back and slicing open three separate wounds beside the Ranger center’s right eye, Neil Smith was on the phone to NHL VP Colin Campbell, urging that No. 88 be suspended.
“I called Colie, and Dave [Checketts] is going to call [Gary] Bettman,” the GM said after yesterday’s 3-1 Ranger defeat. “How often has something like this happened with Eric, 20 times? Sooner or later, somebody’s eyeball is going to be out there laying on the ice and Eric is going to be skating around, saying, ‘Geez, I didn’t know.’
“We’ve all seen him do this. How many times does he have to do it? He stands around and says, ‘Oh, did I hit him?’ With him, it’s always, ‘Gee whiz! What happened?'”
Lindros, who earlier this season was fined $1,000 by Campbell for a Dec. 4 stick-swinging incident involving Buffalo’s Jay McKee, was assessed only a double-minor by Kerry Fraser on the play, which came on the boards at 16:30 of the third period. The Flyers play the Red Wings in a nationally televised Fox game this afternoon in Detroit.
So it will be fascinating to see whether Campbell suspends Lindros, one of his favorite players and the one of the NHL’s marquee attractions, for wounding Nedved, whom the VP could barely abide when they were together in New York. Perhaps Campbell will suspend Nedved for bleeding on Lindros’ stick blade.
Nedved, who required 12 stitches to close the wounds, said that it was not for him to say whether Lindros should be suspended
“It’s not for me to decide,” said No. 93, who spent 25:41 of the afternoon in the line of fire in going straight up against No. 88. “I honestly think he knew somebody was behind him. He was pushed, and he swung back. It’s hard to say whether it was intentional; I would have to see it [on tape].
“I don’t mind getting hit clean, but when sticks are flying around your face, it’s a different story. If I had had a chance I would have put my stick up [to defend myself].”
Lindros, suspended for a pair of games in April of 1997 after going upside Shane Churla’s face with his stick, yesterday issued a statement through the Flyer PR department.
“[Nedved] held my arm and I came back. Unfortunately, I hit him in the face,” Lindros explained. “These things happen sometimes in game.”
In addition to charging that “these things” happen too often, Smith took a well-aimed shot at Flyers chairman Ed Snider when asked why Checketts would be involved calling the commissioner.
“We should do what Ed Snider does and continually call the league until he gets what he wants when he doesn’t like something,” the GM said. “He calls during games, after games, all the time.”