There was no love lost between Josh Manson and Michael McCarron after a first-period sequence saw the Avalanche’s veteran defenseman end up with a four-minute double minor for butt-ending.
Manson absorbed a hit from McCarron, and the Wild forward ended up falling on him. The two tussled on the ice for a few moments, with Manson getting a headlock hold. As they started to separate, Manson appeared to butt-end McCarron around the ear.
The penalty led to a power-play goal for Minnesota, but the Avalanche ended up winning 5-2 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
At the first intermission, McCarron fired at Manson during an interview with ESPN’s P.K. Subban.
“I mean, you played against Josh. He’s a dirty player. He’s always been,” McCarron said. “Surprised he got away with only a 4-minute. I’m happy he’s still in the game.”
After the game, Manson met with a few media members, myself included. He was first asked how he felt, as this was Manson’s first game back since April 23. His response: “Good. You can just get to the question you want to ask me.”
Then it was asked, and his response followed.
“I mean, he hits me, but then he lands on me. So I didn’t really like that, to be honest with you,” Manson said. “We’re in a scrum, and I just, I mean, I butt ended him. Was it on purpose? Was that my intention? Absolutely not. 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, yeah. I was trying to give him a smack because I didn’t like that he landed on me. I didn’t think that was fully necessary. But, you know, I served my four-minute penalty. They looked at it and, yeah, like I said, it wasn’t my intention to butt-end him in the face. It was more trying to smack him in the head. I think I just lost awareness of where the grip was.”
Manson was also asked about the comments McCarron made on ESPN. He was unaware of them until we brought them up.
“That’s fine if he wants to call me a dirty player. He can just look at my history. I mean, it’s been 13 years and I haven’t been suspended yet,” Manson said. “So obviously, I’m not that dirty. You know what I mean. I think there are other guys in the league that are doing more. But was that the cleanest play? No. I mean, was it purposeful? No, it wasn’t purposeful either. But like I said, I served my time. They scored on it, so I mean, benefited them. But, yeah, that’s his perspective.”
McCarron didn’t let it go after the game either. He continued his rant about Manson.
“I blew him up, and he grabs me and pulls me on top of him,” McCarron said. “He’s a dirty player. He took his butt-end and clearly butt-ended me in the face. I don’t know how it’s not five minutes. 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.”
There was no easy-to-find history between the two players before this sequence.
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