TORONTO - According to former Maple Leaf Mark Osborne, Frazer McLaren’s KO of Senators forward Dave Dziurzynski was reminiscent of the September 1997 pre-season scrap between Nick Kypreos and Ryan VandenBussche.
Let’s hope the repercussions are not the same.
On that fateful night almost 16 years ago, a bloodied Kypreos was left face down on the ice after absorbing a left-handed knockout punch from VandenBussche. It was a blow that would end Kypreos’ career.
The Sens would only say that Dziurzynski had suffered a concussion after being felled by a couple of flush McLaren blows just 26 seconds into the Leafs’ 5-4 victory at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, leaving the Sens forward lying motionless on his stomach.
A scary sight indeed.
“It’s two big guys going at it,” Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. “The only thing I was thinking was that I wish the trainers could get out there faster.”
Senators general manager Bryan Murray did not understand why his player would seek to drop the gloves with an established tough guy like McLaren.
“I’ve been someone who has been against staged fights,” said Murray in disbelief.
For the record, McLaren said he asked the Sens player if he wanted to go and was told “not until the puck drops.”
