Source : faceoff.com
George Parros, the six-foot-five winger who has made a career of punching other hockey players in the face, dropped his gloves to the ice again on Thursday. It was not for a fight, though: He was down on his knees, and it was easier to pick up pucks bare-handed at the end of practice, dumping them into a bucket to be taken away.
It has been more than a month since his last fight with the Montreal Canadiens, and it has been just as long since he played in his last game. Parros has been a healthy scratch in all of the team’s playoff games, reduced to the role of a spectator, and a spare practice body.
Fighting had effectively disappeared from the NHL playoffs as the Canadiens prepared to face the New York Rangers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference final. One of the most divisive aspects in the sport had been shoved aside for the most meaningful games.
There was a fight in the first period on Thursday night, but it was the first in three weeks, an exception more than the rule. According to hockeyfights.com, it was the ninth fight of the post-season, and the first since a blowout game in the first round.
Rangers forward Derek Dorsett initiated a fight with Canadiens winger Brandon Prust for a late and dangerous hit Prust had delivered a few minutes earlier. It was a rare act — the Canadiens did not fight after a Rangers player barrelled through goaltender Carey Price in Game 1 — and an unusual sight in an important game.
“There’s probably less fights this year than in years past, for sure,” said Parros, who was still on the ice when most of his teammates had changed and left the arena to prepare for the game. “There’s always a downturn in fights in the playoffs ... every little bit counts, so there’s not as much room for shenanigans.”
There have been plenty of shenanigans, though, including a number that would have led directly to fisticuffs during the regular season. Consider the case of the Canadiens alone: In the second round against the Boston Bruins, a player squirted water on an opponent, one defenceman slashed another in the groin, and Montreal forward Dale Weise openly mocked Boston forward Milan Lucic for flexing his biceps on the bench.
For seven months of the year, any one of those actions would likely have led to a fight.
“I think that fighting has a place in hockey, but I just don’t see fighting in the playoffs,” Weise said on Thursday. “There’s just too much to lose. You don’t gain any ground by doing that in the playoffs. You have to take that extra shot in the face, or take that slash.”
“I think it’s because both teams, when you play, you want to play hard — you want to play intense and you want to finish checks and all that stuff,” said Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges. “But you fight, you sit in the box for five minutes; you never want to take yourself out of the game.”
Proponents of fighting often offer other benefits, such as providing a spark or sending a message to the opposition. That might work in February, when the Florida Panthers are in town, but when the games matter, as they do now, fighting seems wholly expendable.
“I’m not a big believer that fighting sparks teams and stuff like that,” Weise said. “I think you go out and have a good shift, and you work a team over, and we get some life on the bench and start building from there. That’s the way you build traction.”
Half of the previous eight fights earlier this spring were contained to two games in the same series, between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks. The Canadiens have been involved in one other fight, according to hockeyfights.com, when Prust fought Radko Gudas in Game 2 of a
first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“Guys play a lot smarter, too,” Parros said. “Guys aren’t going and taking a run at a guy and taking a headshot at a guy when they know it’s going to get a penalty and put his team down. So there’s less dirty play.”
Parros has fought more than 150 times in the NHL, and the pounding has taken a toll. He suffered two fight-related concussions within weeks of each other earlier this season, one in a fight with Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Colton Orr, and another after a round with Eric Boulton, of the New York Islanders, in December.
He returned from both, in a time where scientists are learning more about the dangers of repeated head trauma and the potential for lifelong, life-altering conditions. Parros, who attended Princeton University, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
He earned US$950,000 this year, a small price tag among Montreal forwards.
“It’s tough to watch, but you’ve got to be a good teammate,” Parros said. “Certainly, your attitude affects the way guys behave around the rink. It’s a team game, and I know I’ve done my part the best I can, and I want to be a positive attribute around here.”
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