Below is an excerpt from the Boston Globe article by Fluto Shinzawa who interviewed Claude Julien after the game about Georges Laraque constant badgering of Milan Lucic. Julien almost seemed amused by Carbonneau’s strategy when he states: “And if they want Georges to shadow him, more ice time for him. Good for him”……translated: Give Laraque as much ice time as you want, we’ll take that trade off every game!!!!
“There was no way it was going to happen,” said coach Claude Julien, who had, before the game, forbidden Lucic from fighting Laraque. “[Shawn] Thornton was there, ready for Georges. Nothing happened. My tough guy was ready for their tough guy. Simple as that. I told him not to fight. It was me.”
Julien’s theory was that Lucic is a first-line player who has clicked with fellow gunners Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. Laraque, on the other hand, is scoreless and averaged only 7:50 of time on ice per match before last night.
First-line wing to square off against a fourth-liner who’s considered one of the toughest guys in the NHL? Julien wasn’t having it.
“A guy has to do a job,” said Julien. “[Laraque] shadowed Lucic tonight. That was his job. Simple as that. For us, I think Lucic is a good player. And if they want Georges to shadow him, more ice time for him. Good for him.”
Lucic landed a game-high nine hits last night but never dropped the gloves. Instead, Lucic scored his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at 11:11 of the second period.