Austin Watson's Late Shot Hits Jeremy Lauzon: Dumb or Dirty?

With seconds left the game Thursday night, frustrated Lightning forward Austin Watson hit Jeremy Lauzon with a hard slap shot from Tampa Bay's blue line.

The Nashville Predators put together an impressive 5-1 win last night over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the play many across the NHL are talking about today was the late shot by Austin Watson with seconds left on the clock from Watson's own blue line. The Lightning forward, clearly frustrated, wound up and fired a shot that hit Jeremy Lauzon in the leg, dropping Lauzon immediately to the ice. 

Here is the play:

There was no update after the game from the Predators on Lauzon, who struggled to get off the ice and hobbled down the tunnel. Head coach Andrew Brunette was clearly unhappy about the play when asked about it postgame. 

"I did not like that at all," Brunette said. "I thought that has no place in hockey. No place whatsoever in hockey."

According to Alex Daugherty of Penalty Box Radio, Watson tried to reach out to apologize to Lauzon after the game but no word on whether the two had a conversation. 

The Predators did not hold practice this morning so there has been no update today on Lauzon's status, but Nashville cannot afford to lose the 26-year-old defenseman. Lauzon's recent defensive partner Alexandre Carrier is listed as week-to-week after taking a hit to the head from Kirill Kaprizov in the Predators' loss to the Wild on November 30. Carrier did skate with the team Thursday morning, and it appears he may be closer to a return than anticipated as Spencer Stastney is listed as returning to Milwaukee late this morning.  

Defenseman Tyson Barrie and the Predators appear on the verge of parting ways as well. Barrie has been a healthy scratch in three of the last four games, and Andrew Brunette has been frank that Barrie's performance hasn't been up to expectations. Word leaked over the weekend that Barrie was granted permission to talk to other teams, and that news going public created what appears to be a bigger rift between player and front office. Barrie was a healthy scratch again last night against the Lightning. 

The Predators play a back to back this weekend against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens and will want to have Lauzon available to play. It was an unfortunate result after a poor decision by Watson last night.