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Letang says Hartnell bit him, and Hartnell ‘can’t say what happened’

by Tony on 10/09/09 at 10:31 AM ET
Comments (7)

From ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun:

The Flyers-Penguins rivalry is one of the best in hockey. And tonight’s 5-4 win by Pittsburgh was another dandy. But there’s good, hard-nosed, vicious, physical hockey, and then there’s just plain idiotic.

If it is indeed true that Scott Hartnell bit Kris Letang’s finger with just seconds remaining in Thursday night’s game, the Philadelphia Flyers winger should be suspended. I guarantee you the NHL’s hockey operations staff was already looking at the scuffle. But unless there’s clear video evidence of the action, it might be tough to do anything about it.

The incident was sparked by Flyers captain Mike Richards’ colliding with Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, which took the net off and stopped play with 1.2 seconds left in the game. Letang and Hartnell then got entangled; so did Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger and Penguins forward Chris Kunitz (both later received 10-minute misconducts). Letang and Hartnell scuffled and fell to the ice, but there was no clear shot from the game broadcast to see the bite.

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Filed in: Pittsburgh Penguins | The Confluence | Permalink
Tags: NHL-Hockey, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins,

Comments

Hartnell would swear that he never meant to run Chris Osgood or Manny Legace, causing groin and knee injuries, on a regular and repeated basis when the Wings played the Predators, nor did he stick out his knee and blow out Jiri Fischer’s ACL...No, no, Scott Hartnell’s a clean player…

I’m sorry he’s in your conference. He’s cheap as cheap can be.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 10/09/09 at 09:47 AM ET

Perfect for Phlthy then, Continue to Lose to the Pens & take Cheap Needless penalties & Cheapshots

Until Ed Snider Dies & Holmgren & Clarke are dead too they won’t win a SC

Posted by Evilpens on 10/09/09 at 10:10 AM ET

This makes me laugh. There’s this uproar about one guy biting another guy’s finger, but why is nobody questioning why Kris Letang shoved his finger in Hartnell’s mouth? Isn’t that disgusting?

Posted by Garth on 10/09/09 at 11:04 AM ET

Another day at the office for the Flyers, last year Derian Hatcher bit Travis Zajac’s finger from the Devils. I think under Clarke’s leadership, the Flyers have finally gone feral. Call the pound!

Posted by Mike from Idaho on 10/09/09 at 11:04 AM ET

Garth, you’re forever anti-pens arent you? You’re probably right, Letang definitly shoved his finger in the mouth of Hartnell, why wouldnt he right? Stick to your wings…

Posted by Greg on 10/09/09 at 11:44 AM ET

So, Richards runs Fluery with 1 second left, and as Letang is only trying to get to Richards, Hartnell, in typical fashion, goes after Letang from behind. Still classy, both Hartnell and the team.
I guess the good news for the Flyers was that they waited until there was only 1 second to start acting completely moronic. Usually it happens much earlier. Maybe they are on the cusp of true change.

Posted by dip on 10/09/09 at 11:53 AM ET

Hartnell is a POS like most Flyer fans & players! The city demands fighting first & hockey 2nd. Just like the Eagles & 76ers, they need larger jail cells for all the nut cases!

Posted by KJ on 10/10/09 at 01:54 PM ET

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