Scott Arniel Fires Shots at Jim Montgomery as Both Coaches Engage in Verbal Altercation
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The intensity is really heating up between the Jets and Blues in Round 1, and Scott Arniel and Jim Montgomery are engaging in a war of words as well.
The 2024-25 Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets host the St. Louis Blues in the opening round of the playoffs. The Blues, who lost the first two, squared the series with consecutive victories in Games 3 and 4.
Game 5 was a huge blow to the Jets when star center Mark Scheifele left in the second period with an undisclosed injury and did not come back.
The kind of injury is unknown, although Scheifele had been struck by Blues captain Brayden Schenn earlier in the game.
At a post-game news conference, Blues head coach Jim Montgomery claimed Scheifele became injured in a collision with Radek Faksa, not in the hit by Schenn.
"Let's make it clear. #55 (Mark Scheifele) got hurt from the Faksa hit. He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn't come back after he got rocked by Faksa."
- Jim Montgomery
- Jim Montgomery
The ex-Bruin Montgomery also claimed Scheifele remained on the ice for another six minutes following when he made contact with Schenn, and therefore the hit could not be the cause of the injury.
Scott Arniel was not happy at all with Montgomery's comments
Those remarks did not agree with Jets head coach Scott Arniel. In his own media availability, Arniel took exception to Montgomery's remarks, stating they were unnecessary.
"Well, I didn't know Monty (Jim Montgomery) got his medical degree trying to say how our player got hurt. He's way off base. He should not make that comment."
- Scott Arniel
- Scott Arniel
He was also extremely upset about the officiating, stating the hit warranted more than a two-minute minor penalty and calling for referees to look at it again.
| POLL | ||
MAI 1 | 390 ANSWERS Scott Arniel Fires Shots at Jim Montgomery as Both Coaches Engage in Verbal Altercation Will the Jets close out the series next game? | ||
| Yes | 300 | 76.9 % |
| No | 90 | 23.1 % |
| List of polls | ||