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Sunday, October 31, 1999
Sens pay the price
Errant elbow puts Dineen in Panthers' sights in win
There's no love and plenty of bad blood between these two clubs after last night's chippy game at the Corel Centre, which ended in a 5-0 victory for Ottawa.
The focus was on Senators veteran winger Kevin Dineen, who was targeted by the Panthers after a scary incident early in the first period when Florida winger Cam Stewart suffered a concussion.
The Panthers were livid, calling Dineen "gutless" for delivering an elbow to Stewart's face which knocked him unconscious.
Stewart was motionless on the ice for nearly 15 minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher. He was taken to the Civic site of the Ottawa Hospital last night.
"It was a gutless play by Dineen to throw the elbow," said an angry Panthers coach Terry Murray after the game. "He was looking over his shoulder. He saw him coming and he deliberately hit him in the head with his elbow."
No penalty was called by referee Scott Zelkin.
The Panthers spent the rest of the evening trying to even the score, and tensions boiled over with just under four minutes left when Florida defenceman Todd Simpson cross-checked Dineen in the head in front of the Florida net.
Simpson was assessed an attempt to injure major penalty and was kicked out of the game. Florida forward Scott Mellanby also piled on Dineen during the fray and received a misconduct. Senators winger Andre Roy was given a fighting major and a game misconduct.
DEFENCEMEN DOWN
"We had to do something," said Florida defenceman Todd Simpson, who had mugged Dineen earlier in the third. "The bottom line is, we had a guy in the hospital and they don't."
But the Senators did suffer losses. Defenceman Sami Salo left the game in the second with a broken wrist after taking a slash in the left wrist from Bret Hedican.
Igor Kravchuk also left the game in the second with an injured left MCL.
"It was dirty stick work, and we lose two defencemen," said Senators coach Jacques Martin.
Asked if the Hedican slash warrants a suspension, Martin replied, "That's not my department."
Dineen claimed that Murray directed his players to go after him after watching a replay of the incident involving Stewart.
"I know where the directive came from. It was premeditated all night," said Dineen, who once played for Murray in Philadelphia. "(Murray's) toughest day was the day he retired (as a player). That's where he became a tough guy."
Murray said his players acted on their own.
"No one was sending anybody out. Sometimes the team takes care of things in the dressing room and on the bench by themselves."
NO INTENT
Dineen claimed he didn't throw an elbow at Stewart.
"That's a play I make a lot, where I hold up a guy by stopping short, and he runs into me," he said. "I've never had anybody get hurt on that play.
"There was no violence to it or anything. It was a play try to get the puck out along the boards, and that's the only intent I had.
"I wasn't trying to elbow him," said Dineen. "I was trying to push him back, and I feel bad the kid got hurt."
The Senators ended a six-game skid without a power-play goal when Marian Hossa scored in the second to make it 2-0.
Joe Juneau, playing in his first game with the Senators, scored in the third.
Radek Bonk, Wade Redden and Shawn McEachern had Ottawa's other goals.
Ron Tugnutt made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season -- blankings which came on back-to-back Saturday nights.
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