The coach's tone was defensive, edging toward defiant. It didn't appear that he was crossing his fingers while standing at the podium.
In the final minute of play Sunday night, Ribeiro collapsed some 20 feet in front of the Boston bench after a glancing hit by Bruins winger Mike Knuble. As collisions go, it wasn't much, certainly nothing similar to the smack Steve Begin dropped on Michael Nylander midway through the third period two nights earlier.
Flat on his back, a writhing Ribeiro flailed his legs as if he'd been run over as a bystander at the Montreal Grand Prix. Action continued for a few seconds before play was whistled dead by referees Kerry Fraser and Kevin Pollock with 33.7 seconds to go in the 3-2 game. After a brief on-ice consultation with a member of the Habs training staff, Ribeiro was quickly on his feet. In the mere seconds leading up to his finally stepping back onto the Montreal bench, Ribeiro even had time, and enough control over his pain, to gesture toward the Bruins bench with both gloved hands, imploring the Bostonians to bring it on.
One moment he was roadkill Ribeiro. The next moment, he was a latter-day John Wensink. For the record, Julien's spin was that Ribeiro's "bring it on" gesture was simply his way of responding to taunting from the Boston bench.
"They were yelling and he yelled back," said Julien. "You see him chirping, but they initiated it."
Later, the edgy Julien added, "How can we all stand here and say he was faking it?"
All in all, it smelled fishier than a haddock that's been dead for three days. Especially when Habs forward Pierre Dagenais, one of Ribeiro's pals, summed up the injury as Ribeiro simply having the wind knocked out of him.
"He's fine this morning," added Dagenais. Not so fine, however, to show his face at the workplace.
Across the way in the Boston dressing room, where the Bruins still own the 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series that continues tonight, the incident was characterized as an act.
Veteran defenseman Dan McGillis remained mild-mannered but outspoken on the subject. By his eye, Ribeiro was faking, bringing a measure of dishonor to the game.
