Fraser Minten knew he didn’t do it. He made sure the referee knew it too.
The Boston Bruins center was sent to the penalty box for slashing at 15:15 of the first period Monday night against Ottawa – except Minten wasn’t the one who slashed anybody. It was his teammate, rookie James Hagens, who caught Thomas Chabot in the offensive zone. As a confused Minten was escorted to the penalty box, he let the officials know they had the wrong guy.
The officials listened. Referee Corey Syvret amended the call on the spot, freeing Minten and sending Hagens to take his rightful spot in the sin bin.
The slash came with the Bruins already down 2-0 on a pair of Tim Stützle goals. Seven seconds after Hagens settled into the box, Matthew Poitras took a tripping penalty to give Ottawa nearly two full minutes of 5-on-3. The Bruins killed it off, but the Senators rolled to a 4-1 win anyway – Stützle with three points and Drake Batherson and Michael Amadio adding second-period goals. Hagens scored Boston’s only goal in the third after Samuel Ersson misplayed a puck behind the Ottawa net.
Officials for the game were referees Corey Syvret (#23) and Frederick L’Ecuyer (#17), with linespersons Kilian McNamara (#93) and Tyson Baker (#88).
