Montreal Canadiens left winger Brandon Prust has been handed a $5,000 fine for comments made towards referee Brad Watson after the Canadiens' 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals series on Sunday, the league announced Tuesday.
"Brandon Prust's post-game comments were both baseless and demeaning of a referee whose 20-year career in the League has been marked by professionalism, integrity and a high degree of respect from players, coaches and management," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.
Prust, who had 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) across the regular season and Watson got into an altercation on the ice during the first period and he was quoted as saying, "I'd like to apologise to Brad Watson and the rest of the officials in the NHL, it was uncalled for. We got in a heated exchange and that should have stayed between us. I've always played by the code on and off the ice, I'm a pretty honest player. On Sunday I crossed the line."
P.K Subban is also positive that the thirty-one year old's outburst won't have a negative effect on the Habs moving forward in their hunt for their twenty-fifth Stanley cup trophy and first since the 1992-93 season:
"That's the integrity of the game," Subban said. "There's so many cameras, there's so many people with opinions, there's so many people watching, that's not going to happen. The game's going to be called fair."
Prust won't face any suspension for his comments and admits he'll be on his best behavior after thirty-one penalty minutes that same game;
"I have to learn to be better that way and keep my emotions in check because it's not really helping anybody," Prust said. "It's definitely not helping me or my team."
Montreal trail 2-0 in the series and game three is scheduled for a 7pm ET start on Wednesday.