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ANAHEIM — Josh Manson’s legal open-ice check that sent Kevin Fiala crashing to the ice and then into Nashville Predators teammate Kyle Turris wasn’t the hardest hit he’s delivered in his career. It might not have even been the hardest hit during the Ducks’ 2-1 shootout victory Monday.
It was the most eye-catching, though. It was the check that had the Honda Center crowd roaring its approval and the Predators’ Zac Rinaldo looking to exact revenge in the form of a fight with the Ducks’ defenseman. Manson’s check was a fair challenge, but the law of the jungle was applied.
“I can’t be a hypocrite because if one of our guys gets hit clean and it’s still a heavy hit, you still want to send a message to guys, so I understand what (Rinaldo) is doing,” Manson said Tuesday. “I thought he came off the bench. That’s what I was upset about. I thought he came right off the bench.
“I thought they sent him off the bench. I was a little upset about that.”
Manson and Rinaldo were each penalized five minutes for fighting. The Ducks believed Rinaldo should have been given an additional penalty for leaving the bench with the intent to fight an opponent, which was the case, based on TV replays available to reporters.
“There was definitely intent, come on,” Manson said. “How could you think there was not intent? Off the bench, straight at me. But even if it was a fair change, he still came right at me, which happens. I can’t say I’ve never done it before, where a guy hits one of our guys and you go after him.
“It’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy about it.”
Ducks coach Randy Carlyle wasn’t pleased with the officiating of Gord Dwyer and Jake Brenk during the game and he remained puzzled Tuesday as to why Rinaldo wasn’t assessed an instigating penalty for leaving the bench to engage Manson directly at center ice.
Carlyle also wasn’t sure why the original check upset the Predators.
“In that specific play, I don’t think it was that hard of a hit,” he said. “It wasn’t really a bone-crushing hit. It was more of a take-the-player-out-legally, and he ran into their second player and it was like a domino effect. I don’t know how they deemed it was something that was that severe.
“It wasn’t.”
TOUGH BUT FAIR
Carlyle has encouraged the Ducks to play a more physical game, delivering checks like Manson’s, but they haven’t always responded this season. The Ducks were more physical in Monday’s game against the Predators, a rival team that excels at making their blood boil more often than not.
“We want physical contact,” he said. “It’s not like we’re asking them to go out and to run people over on every shift, but you are allowed to body-check in this sport. There are some people who are trying to take that out of the game, and I think it’s something that will stay in the game.
“It should stay in the game.”
INJURY UPDATE
Defenseman Cam Fowler didn’t skate with his teammates Tuesday after he was struck in the face by a puck in the closing minutes of regulation play Monday. Fowler was bloodied after blocking a shot that ricocheted off his stick blade and appeared to strike him in the right cheek.
Carlyle said Fowler was undergoing tests and couldn’t say whether Fowler could join the Ducks for their one-game trip to play the Golden Knights on Wednesday in Las Vegas. The Ducks didn’t expect to have an update on Fowler’s day-to-day status Tuesday.
The Ducks recalled defenseman Andy Welinski from San Diego of the AHL.
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