Michael McCarron quickly fell to the side while grabbing his face in pain.
A moment before he had been on top of the Avalanche’s Josh Manson after smashing him into the boards, with the pair landing in same spot in an awkward tangle.
Manson then crossed a line by taking the end of his hockey stick and hitting McCarron, a move that had the latter calling him out on ESPN mid-period during an interview with ex-player P.K. Subban.
“You played against Josh. He’s a dirty player. He’s always been,” McCarron said. “Surprised he got away with only a four-minute, I’m happy he’s still in the game.”
Manson received a double-minor penalty for the blow that ultimately resulted in the first goal of the game for the Wild, yet it didn’t stop the Avalanche from rallying to claim a 5-2 road win and put Minnesota on the brink of elimination with a 3-1 lead in this second-round series.
McCarron lit even more into Manson after the game for his actions, stating that his fellow players around the NHL share a similar sentiment.
“I blew him up and he grabs me and pulls me on top of him. I mean, he’s a dirty player. He took his butt- end and clearly butt-ended me in the face,” McCarron said.
“I don’t know how it’s not a five-minute. I think the rule book says it’s a five-minute if you butt-end someone in the face. He’s a dirty player. He’s always been. Not very well-respected.”
Monday night marked Manson’s first game back after being sidelined for five contests with an injury and it didn’t take long for him to leave his mark on the game.
Roughly seven minutes into a scoreless game, McCarron hit Manson into the boards on the Avalanche’s end of the ice moments after he sent the puck to the other end.
Manson fell at an awkward angle on his back while moving into McCarron, which led to landing on the ice almost in a wrestling pinning combination before the stick to the face manuever.
McCarron immediately pled his case to a referee after rising from the ice and started screaming toward Manson, who had retreated toward the Avalanche’s bench.
Manson didn’t take issue with McCarron’s remarks,
“If he wants to call me a dirty player, he can look at my history,” he said. “It’s been 13 years and I haven’t been suspended yet. Obviously, I’m not that dirty. I think there are a lot of the guys in the league that are doing more … Was that the cleanest play? No. Was it purposeful? No. It wasn’t purposeful either.”
He added, per ESPN: “My intention wasn’t to butt-end him. Did I want to punch him in the head? I did want to punch him in the head.”
The Wild’s Danila Yorov scored a little more than three minutes later to make the double-minor penalty costly, but the Avalanche scored four goals in the third period — including three in the final nine — to move one win away from advancing to the conference semifinals.
