Nashville Predators forwards Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Radulov have been suspended for Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals for a “violation of team rules,” that supposedly occurred on Saturday night. No one is being overtly specific about what happened, but Radulov did indicate that it was a “curfew issue,” i.e. these boys probably decided to hit the town of Scottsdale and throw back a few alcoholic beverages (as per EJ Hradek on NHL Live). Not smart when you have a VERY important game the next day. This is mere speculation and has not been confirmed, but that seems to be the general consensus floating around.
Now things are starting to make a bit more sense. If you watched game 2, you would know that Alex Radulov was astonishingly lazy as pointed out by Keith Jones in the video below. I don’t know what goes on in the KHL, but I would imagine that it would be difficult to play an NHL playoff game with a hangover.
Predators GM David Poile addressed the media to answer questions, but didn’t offer too much as to what actually occurred:
