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Emery Takes Swipe At Darche

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

TAMPA - The last time Ottawa G Ray Emery swung his stick at an opponent, it cost him a three-game suspension. Emery could be facing disciplinary action again after taking a swipe Tuesday at Lightning LW Mathieu Darche.

In February, Emery lost three games after getting called for slashing when he swung and hit Montreal's Maxim Lapierre on the face shield. Lapierre wasn't injured.

Neither was Darche, but the swipe hit his leg and cost Emery another slashing penalty.

"He's got a bit of a temper, obviously," said Darche, who was called for goaltender interference and had a roughing minor tacked on after getting into a scrap with Ottawa's Chris Neil.

Emery, who has missed much of the season with a wrist injury and was making his seventh start Tuesday, acknowledged he probably deserved the slashing call.

"I guess so. I don't know," Emery said. "I didn't know I was going to get a goaltender interference call there. I didn't get one before."

Emery was referring to Filip Kuba's third-period goal, on which Tampa Bay's Vinny Lecavalier was set up near the goal mouth.

"I tried to slide across and ran into Lecavalier in the crease," Emery said. "So, I don't know. In my estimation, you're not allowed to stand in front of the goalie and block him from coming across to make a save. So, I think it's not a goal. And I don't know if it has to do with it's Vinny Lecavalier that's standing there and not someone else and he gets the benefit of the doubt. But I thought it was a big play in the game."

It was - Kuba's third goal of the season made it 3-1 Lightning at the time.

ALL-STAR UPDATE: If the NHL All-Star Game were played today, Lecavalier would start on the Eastern Conference forward line with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson.

In the ballot update released Tuesday, Lecavalier was third among forwards in fan voting with 117,058. Crosby leads, followed by Alfredsson. The top three vote-getters among forwards start the game, which will be played Jan. 27 at Atlanta.

The other three Lightning players on the ballot are RW Marty St. Louis (21st) and C Brad Richards (32nd) and D Dan Boyle (10th among defensemen).

Montreal's Cristobal Huet leads among goalies, while Montreal's Andrei Markov and Boston's Zdeno Chara are the top two vote-getters among defensemen.

Lecavalier has been an All-Star twice, in 2007 and 2003, but has never been elected to start. The only Lightning players voted in were St. Louis (2004), G Nikolai Khabibulin (2003) and F Dino Ciccarelli (1997).

NUTS AND BOLTS: Lightning C Craig MacDonald was a healthy scratch. ... Lightning C Chris Gratton's first-period goal was his 92nd in a Tampa Bay uniform, tying him with Vinny Prospal for sixth in franchise history. It was Gratton's first goal since Oct. 20, a span of 21 games. ... Lightning coach John Tortorella earned the 220th victory of his NHL career, breaking a tie with Herb Brooks for third place in victories among U.S.-born coaches. Bob Johnson leads with 234 and Robbie Ftorek is second with 229.

Carter Gaddis

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