Readers beware. This is an emotional, knee-jerk piece that was written in the heat of the moment and probably not very well thought out.
Bear with me if you will.
Last night in the aftermath of the second-period ending melee, the camera panned to Mike Sullivan on the Penguins’ bench. Judging by the expression on his face (not quite bitter beer face but close) he was none too pleased.
I remember wondering at the time if the object of his disapproval might be black-and-gold defenseman Mark Friedman, who squirted gasoline on the incipient embers by grabbing Lightning forward Corey Perry around the mush and taking him to the ice.
My worst fears were confirmed when I read Sullivan’s comments about the incident and more specifically…Friedman.
“You know, we want him to play his game,” said our coach. “We want him to be who he is, but he’s got to make sure he stays on the right side of the line. The type of team that we have here and the type of game that we’re trying to play requires discipline in a lot of forms.
