As if Thursday night's game in Boston between the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens required any more drama, former Hab Mark Recchi has thrown a whole jerrycan of fuel on the fire.
Ever since the Canadiens announced that Max Pacioretty is expected to make a full recovery from his fractured C4 vertebra and concussion he suffered after being drilled head first into a Bell Centre stanchion by Boston's Zdeno Chara, several Bruins media have suggested the injuries to Pacioretty were never as severe as originally reported.
But now it's not just the Boston media saying such things, it's an actual Bruins player, and the most veteran one of them.
Recchi appeared on Boston radio station 98.5 The Sports Hub on Wednesday afternoon to tee up Thursday's big re-match between the Habs and Bruins, and in so doing essentially validated what the media has been saying about the severity of Pacioretty's injuries.
"I believe (the Canadiens) were trying to get Zdeno suspended and they embellished (the concussion) a little bit," Recchi told the radio station.
As evidence, Recchi said the fact Pacioretty went on Twitter to announce he was seeing a movie a few days after suffering the injury was proof that his concussion was not severe at all.
"If you had a bad concussion like they said," Recchi said, "you're not going to be in a movie."
Recchi also said the concussion was a "non-factor" and that perhaps Pacioretty felt it for a day.
Pacioretty laid unconscious for several minutes with his cheek glued to the Bell Centre ice before having his head immobilized and being wheeled away on a stretcher to the great horror of the 21,273 in attendance and to players on both benches.
The Canadiens announced Pacioretty had suffered the fractured vertebra and a "severe concussion" one day later.
