Things got heated during a Montreal Canadiens practice in Calgary.
The Habs, who will play the Flames on Friday, have some reason to be testy of late given they’ve lost four of their last six games.
Defenceman Joe Morrow and forward Andrew Shaw got into an altercation during one of the team’s drills, which was caught on video.
It’s not unheard of for teammates on a struggling team to get into an altercation at practice, as an aggressive play – perhaps an overly aggressive cross-check – can cause tensions to boil over. Predictably the team downplayed the incident, but don’t kid yourself, it’s never a good sign.
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” said Canadiens head coach Claude Julien. “It’s players showing emotion and that happens every year, where ever you been it happens.
“At the end the end of the day, like I said, there’s a professional side to the game, there’s a personal side to the game. What happened on the ice was professional and they’re going to be in the room on a personal side and they’ll probably be hugging each other and buying each other a Gatorade and move on.”
Morrow only recently returned to the lineup, playing against New Jersey last week and Vancouver on Tuesday. This is the first year the pair have played on the same team, as Morrow was acquired during the offseason.