Morgan Rielly breaks silence as suspension is nearly complete

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly earned himself a suspension after he took extreme exception to an empty-net snapshot taken by Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig earlier in the month. Rielly immediately responded with a crosscheck right to Greig's chops, setting off a melee on the ice at Canadian Tire Centre. 

Rielly was banned for the next five games, and had his appeal denied by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. However, the good news for the Leafs is that they've gone undefeated in Rielly's absence, which also included a game without the services of John Tavares and Mitch Marner. 

And with only one game left on his suspension before he is eligible to return to the Leafs lineup, Rielly has broken his silence on his actions against Greig and the appeal process. 

"It was just a reactionary thing. I felt like I just wanted to address something. Obviously, it got away from me. It was not intended to be executed the way it was," Rielly said of his cross-check. "It's been an opportunity to learn and grow a little bit."

"At that point it's kind of out of your control," Rielly then continued of his suspension. "We appealed, and that's about all you can do. Obviously, we were trying to get it down because I wanted to get back on the ice, but the league made a decision and you just got to live with it."

Rielly's teammates were appreciative of his actions, saying that the brutal cross-check to the face of an unsuspecting opponent was a sign that he "cares". 

"I guess that's the way [Greig] wanted to send a message, and I'm glad Rielly responded to it," Nick Robertson said. "I think we were just kind of annoyed. We were not happy with that scenario.

"He's definitely a guy who cares. He's been here the longest. It's good to see guys show emotion like that. You know, it shows that he cares." 

Perhaps the Leafs shouldn't have allowed a basement-dwelling team to beat them, or for Rielly to have given nearly zero effort in trying to stop Greig from having a clean chance to hit the empty net.

Regardless, the veteran blue liner is eligible to return tomorrow night in Sin City against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

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