Connor McDavid says Brandon Manning admitted to intentionally injuring him
Connor McDavid clearly wasn't pleased with the events that unfolded on Thursday night in Philadelphia. Not only did McDavid's Oilers come up on the losing end of a 6-5 battle against the Flyers, but he also left town with a "classless" revelation.
According to the 19-year-old Oilers captain, Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning essentially revealed that he purposely tripped McDavid on a play last season that resulted in McDavid suffering a broken collarbone. The injury caused McDavid to miss three months of his rookie season.
McDavid, who is usually a pretty boring interview, spit some hot fire towards Manning after the game on Thursday night:
Manning, however, maintained after Thursday night's game that there was no intent to injure on the play last season.
While Manning doesn't explicitly say that the trip was accidental -- just that he didn't purposefully injure him -- his comments don't seem to line up with the fiery comments given by McDavid after the game. Then again, it wouldn't make much sense for Manning to publicly admit to doing it on purpose, even a year later.
But whatever Manning said to McDavid on Thursday night clearly agitated the young Oilers superstar, who made it a point to chirp at Manning after scoring a goal on the power play.
Whether or not Manning actually admitted to injuring McDavid on purpose, it's evident that the Flyers defenseman owns some space in the superstar's head now.
[pullquote align="center" attribution=""]"I did all I could defending him last year in the media," McDavid said. "Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose, and he wanted to say some comments today about what went on last year. I thought it was one of the [most] classless things I've ever seen on the ice. He said some things, and our guys responded accordingly. I guess we can put the whole 'if he did it on purpose' thing to rest because what he said out there kind of confirmed that."[/pullquote][pullquote align="center" attribution=""]"I would never intentionally hurt someone," he said. "Anybody who knows me, I play a hard game. That's the reason I'm here, that's the way I'm in the NHL. I'm not here to score goals like some of those guys. I think I play an honest game, and anyone who knows me knows I play hard and stuff happens out there."[/pullquote]
