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Tired of taunting? So is the NHL; Stiff penalties to come for future finger wagging

Vancouver Canucks v Boston Bruins - Game Three

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 06: Milan Lucic #17 of the Boston Bruins taunts Alex Burrows #14 of the Vancouver Canucks during Game Three of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 6, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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While there’s already been an insane amount of things to take away from the Stanley Cup finals, one of the more unique and silly things we’re going to remember is the taunting. It started when Alex Burrows got away with biting Patrice Bergeron in Game 1. That was followed up by Maxim Lapierre taunting Bergeron by holding his gloved hand in his face daring him to take a bite. Not to be outdone, Milan Lucic got a bit of revenge on Burrows himself by holding up his bare fingers in his face during a scrum daring the biter to take another shot.

When you add those things up and tack on the uncharacteristic taunting from Mark Recchi after scoring last night, you’ve got yourself a good old fashioned taunt-fest. If you’ve grown tired of these things though, you’ll be happy to know that future instances will be treated harshly.

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun found out from NHL VP of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy that officials will be instructed to give out a two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and assessed a ten-minute misconduct on top of that for any future instances of finger wagging in a scrum.

When asked during the press conference discussing Aaron Rome’s four game suspension for his hit on Nathan Horton about whether or not some of the side show antics and chippy play could’ve been avoided had they suspended Burrows for his initial bite, Murphy spoke his mind.

“We made the right decision on Alex Burrows. I spoke with Alex. But I’m not here to speak about that. I’ve dealt with that. We’ve moved on past that. We will deal with the issues of the series, the chippyness that’s going on.

“Kris King is in charge of the series. We’ve addressed it. We’ve addressed it with the teams as early as this morning. I will be speaking with both general managers and coaches before the day’s over about what we are seeing, the garbage that is going on, some of the issues.”

Murphy was stern about wanting to put a stop to the silly stuff that both teams are taking part in on the ice. After all, this is the league’s biggest stage and while dealing with a serious incident like the Rome hit and the games themselves, having this ancillary stuff distracts from the game even more. Sure we get a laugh out of it and sure it’s pretty amusing to see these guys acting so silly but hockey’s a serious thing when it comes to the Stanley Cup finals.