Leafs HC Craig Berube responds to Ridly Greig's controversial cross-check in Game 1 win over Senators - "Call the league"

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube spoke about Ridly Greig's hit after the team’s 6-2 Game 1 win over the Ottawa Senators. The game included several penalties, with a total of 52 penalty minutes. But one particular play by Greig received wide attention from fans and media. It was a cross-check by Greig in John Tavares' face during the second period.

Greig hit Tavares in the head with his stick, following which Tavares immediately fell on the ice. The play was first called a five-minute major, but it was reduced to a two-minute minor after video review.

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube was not happy with the change. He held up five fingers from the bench, signaling what he believed the call should be. Speaking to the media after the game, Berube avoided commenting on the hit.

“That’s not my call,” Berube said, via TSN. “The referees and the league will look at things and make the calls they make. We’re not going to focus on that. We’ve got to focus on what we need to do the next game.

"It’s the same as, like, I thought they made some attempts at our goalie and sliding into him and things like that, but that’s not for us to worry about. We’ve got to focus on playing. We’ve got to focus on ourselves and what we need to do. The league will look into that stuff.”

Later in the game, Ridly Greig also ran into Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz.

John Tavares also avoided commenting on Ridly Greig's hit

John Tavares was also asked about the hit by the media. But similar to Coach Berube, Tavares avoided commenting anything extra on the play.

“I’m just going to let the refs and the league handle it,” Tavares said in his postgame interview, via TSN.ca. “I’m just going to compete hard and try to fight for every inch you can and, whatever way calls go, games go, you fight through it and you just continue to play.”

The league decided Ridly Greig would not face any suspension. The Leafs scored a power-play goal during his penalty. That gave them a 4-1 lead and, later, they won the game 6-2.

The second game of the series will be played on Tuesday night in Toronto. The Senators who took 38 penalties will try to play responsibly.