| Stars center Mike Modano thought it was a sucker
punch. Predators forward Jordin Tootoo said he was just
defending himself. The referee saw it as roughing.
However you saw it, Tootoo's punch to the head of Dallas
defenseman Stephane Robidas marred a historic night for
Modano, who scored his 502nd and 503rd goals to become
the all-time leading U.S.-born goal scorer in NHL
history.
Robidas, who jumped to Modano's defense after the
Stars center had been knocked down by Tootoo hit, ended
up leaving the ice on stretcher late in the third
period. As Robidas went after the Predators' agitator,
Tootoo turned and landed a one-punch knockout that left
the Dallas defenseman with a concussion.
"[Tootoo] saw him coming and he sucker punched
him," Modano said on FSN. "It's a horrible thing to see,
but you are dealing with a guy who has been known to do
that. You are talking about a reputation ... It just
belittled the whole game."
Said Stars coach Dave Tippett: "That's
a blatant sucker punch."
Tootoo said he wasn't surprised someone was coming
after him following the hit on Modano and was just
defending himself.
"Obviously, when you hit one of their top guys,
teammates are going to stick up for each other," he said
after the game. I think my first reaction was someone’s
going to be coming after me. I was just protecting
myself. I didn’t drop my gloves. Hopefully he is going
to be OK."
Predators coach Barry Trotz saw it that way also.
"Toots obviously hit their top player, and the
correct response in hockey is someone has to get over
there and defend your honor. Robidas was really charging
at Toots, and he just reacted to people charging at
him." Trotz said. "I give him a lot of credit - he kept
his gloves on and all that. It’s sort of a natural
reaction when someone’s charging at you. Then he started
getting attacked by a bunch of guys. I hope Robidas is
not hurt, it looked like he hit his head on the ice a
little bit. It’s just a normal hockey play."
Tippett was a little baffled by the resulting
penalties. Robidas got two minutes for charging and
Tootoo got a double minor for roughing.
"I'd like a better explanation
about the call," Tippett said, adding he wasn't sure how
it could be charging on Robidas when he got "sucker
punched" before he got there.
Robidas was down on the ice for
several minutes before being placed on a stretcher and
taken to a local hospital. He was evaluated and
released. He has a concussion and will be re-evaluated
in Dallas on Sunday.
As for the game, it was a possible
preview of a first round playoff series and the night
belonged to Tomas Vokoun, Kimmo Timonen and the
Predators.
Vokoun was superb in goal,
stopping 34 shots, and Timonen scored two goals for the
Predators, who beat the Stars for the first time this
season. The Stars had won the first two meetings and had
limited the high scoring Predators to just one goal.
"We didn't have enough players
digging in hard enough tonight and we came up short,"
Tippett said.
The Stars' only two goals came
from Modano and both came on the power play. Modano
continues to roll along. He is on a four-game goal
scoring streak and now has seven goals in his last eight
games.
"I’ve been feeling good. I feel I’ve been getting
tough chances, opportunities," he said. It wasn’t much
tonight. Just a couple shots and they seemed to go
in. That doesn’t always happen."
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