A Charlie Brown Christmas - Peanuts' Charlie Brown The punch heard 'round the NHL has brought about debate, praise, criticism and everything in between. When Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout felled Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic Friday night with a heavy right cross to the jaw in the closing seconds of overtime, it definitely sent shockwaves through hockey. After all, Lucic garners all kinds of opinions from fans, players and media throughout the league. Lucic, who hadn't previously addressed the incident publicly, broke his silence on what he thought of Prout's punch after Boston's 2-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. "It was the end of the game and I let him know that I wasn't going to fight him," Lucic recalled. "I wasn't prepared and I let my guard down and that's what happens when you let your guard down. I've been in over 100 fights and I never took a shot like that. "There have been many times where I could've done the exact same thing, and I could've held off because he wouldn't drop his gloves. I find it to be gutless and that's my thoughts on it." Lucic is obviously no choir boy. There have been more than a few plays in his career that brought about a similar reaction to the one he's expressing now. One might recall then-Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller's diatribe after he was run over by the Bruins power forward. In fact, one of the several choice words Miller had for Lucic? "Gutless." The question here is whether Lucic has a point when it comes to Prout. It seemed as though Lucic wasn't going to drop the gloves at first, but he also kept advancing on Prout. Lucic then was shedding his left glove as Prout landed the fateful blow. Since this is the NHL, Lucic probably has to have a reasonable expectation at that point that he's going to be punched. This becomes a debate about the unwritten rules of NHL fighting, which are at best, inconsistent. So, who is to really know? This one is going to be decided in the eye of the beholder and few opinions are likely to overlap. However, if this was a sucker punch, it should be noted the league does not take kindly to sucker punches, having fined Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel for a sucker punch earlier this month. Jordan Nolan of the Los Angeles Kings was suspended for a sucker punch last season. Prout received no supplemental discipline via fine or otherwise. Lucic, obviously still smarting about the whole thing, closed his thoughts on the matter with a seemingly thinly veiled threat. "I didn't like it," Lucic said according to Boston.com. "Good thing is, we get to play them two more times ... and I'll be ready."
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