TSN.ca Staff

11/19/2007 11:45:40 AM

Montreal Canadiens' Tom Kostopoulos will not be in the line-up on Monday to face the Ottawa Senators after an incident on Saturday against the Boston Bruins.

Kostopoulos recieved an automatic one-game suspension from the NHL for going after Bruins' Mark Stuart late in the 7-4 Canadiens' victory. He was given an instigator penalty and a game misconduct on the play. The league also fined head coach Carbonneau $10,000 for Kostopoulos' actions.

The Kostopoulos incident was only one of a number of altercations between the two clubs in the third period.

Mikhail Grabovski will replace Kostopoulos against the Senators.

I watched the game, and it's a bit strange that Chara didn't get a suspension for his hit on Kovalev. The rule says that Kostopoulos has to be suspended because I think he started a fight with less than 10 min left in the game. But Chara should be also suspended for his hit on Kovalev's head. Isn't the league supposed to protect its players?

GSA

I totally agree with your statement about Chara. He should be suspended. He was interviewed after the game and was saying that Kovalev ducked, that's why he got hit in the head. Rules say a player gets an automatic suspension for starting a fight in the last 5 mins of the game.