Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo appears to be fully embracing his role as Public Enemy No. 1 in Boston.
A day after getting booed every time he touched the puck during Sunday’s Game 4 at TD Garden, DeAngelo decided to take an unprompted shot at Bruins fans while meeting with Carolina media on Monday.
While discussing the Hurricanes’ state of mind after losing both games in Boston, DeAngelo had this to day:
“There’s no panic in our locker room. 2-2 series, and we’re back in front of a much louder building than was in Boston, so we’ll be fine,” he said, making sure to put an emphasis on “much.”
DeAngelo was involved in several incidents Sunday that drew the ire of Boston fans. He and Brad Marchand were jawing back and forth at the end of the first period, with DeAngelo mocking the size of Marchand’s nose and Marchand appearing to call DeAngelo racist.
If that is what Marchand said, it would be a reference to DeAngelo’s junior days, when the Ontario Hockey League twice suspended him for using language that violated the league’s “harassment, abuse and diversity” policy.
DeAngelo’s history of off-ice issues also includes three punishments for abusing officials, a benching for a “maturity issue” when he was with the Rangers, bombastic use of social media that included challenging at least one fan to a fight, and a reported physical altercation with a teammate that ultimately led to the Rangers cutting him.
Marchand declined to share any details after the game, instead joking that he was asking DeAngelo about Mother’s Day. On Monday, DeAngelo also declined to share what was actually said.
“Nothing. Just playoff hockey. All good,” he said.
Later in the game, DeAngelo crosschecked Curtis Lazar in the face and then threw two gloved jabs at Lazar. He also threw his stick towards Marchand as Marchand scored a late empty-net goal. Had the stick toss actually knocked the puck away from Marchand, the Bruins would’ve been awarded an automatic goal anyways.
“Yeah, is that right?,” DeAngelo responded when asked about the petulant stick toss. “I’d rather knock off the puck… if it knocks off his stick, it’s gonna count as a goal anyways. So would you rather see it go in the net or go wide? It is what it is. It doesn’t bother me very much that I can’t do it.”
DeAngelo made no apologies for his behavior during the game, saying he doesn’t think he lost his cool and doesn’t plan to change.
“I don’t know what emotions we’re talking about here,” he said. “It’s playoff hockey. We’re losing the game, so obviously we’re a little frustrated, but I don’t think anything happened. Nothing happened in the game. Everybody wants to write a little story about it or something, but we’re trying to win a series here. If you don’t have any fire, you’re not gonna win. I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not very concerned what anybody thinks.”
With the series now guaranteed to return to Boston for Game 6 on Thursday, Bruins fans will get another opportunity to let DeAngelo know what they think of him.
Related
