Maple Leafs Cedric Pare breaks silence, clarifies intent after injuring Patrick Laine

The Maple Leafs and Canadiens squared off for their second leg of a home at home preseason series where Toronto was looking to secure their second straight preseason victory and ride that momentum into the regular season. It's always heated when these two teams meet and fireworks are bound to happen even after the slightest little provocation.

So it's no secret that Canadiens fans are beyond upset after the Maple Leafs Cedric Pare went knee on knee with forward Patrik Laine, who left the game and needed assistance off the ice.. There is currently no timetable for Laine, and Pare has commented on the situation, giving a brief statement while speaking to the media.

Priyanta Emrith, media personality for the Canadiens was one of the first to break the statement to a wider audience:

Suffice to say, the Montreal fans are furious and while one can understand passion and devotion to a team, some of the reactions are egregious to say the least and the calls for physical violence or fans being so incredibly angry that threats are being thrown around; it's completely uncalled for. The hit was not malicious, Pare has no history of being a player set out to injure others, and it was truly a freak accident. Pare's interview with the media did not go over well with Montreal fans afterwards either:

Pare, who signed a contract with the Maple Leafs this offseason is projected to be someone who spends his time in the AHL though if the injuries pile up and he rides a hot streak at some point he may find ice time. Drafted in the 6th Round by the Boston Bruins in 2017, Pare has bounced around the AHL and ECHL before settling with Toronto this offseason. His junior career was successful as his two years in Rimouski with the QMJHL led him to 54 goals and 83 assists in 132 games, but it's never translated into the pros as of yet.

It's definitely an unfortunate situation where Pare is clearly just trying to earn a spot and happened to get tangled up in an accident with Laine; if it was malicious he would have gone lower or blatantly stuck out his knee, which also puts Pare at risk for injury as well.

While the status of Laine is unknown as of the writing of this article, all we as hockey fans can hope for is that the injury is nothing serious and Laine can make his return sooner than later, especially since Laine is making his return from the NHLPA Player Assistance Program and this setback is just another sad roadblock in a once flourishing and promising career.

We here at Hockey Patrol wish Patrik Laine the best in a speedy and comfortable recovery.