Ex-Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo draws ire of Boston fans with punch, wink
Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo has become a hated man among Boston sports fans.
In the waning moments of Sunday night’s 5-1 St. Louis Blues win over the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, Bortuzzo and forward Noal Acciari had words. Bortuzzo caught Acciari with a gloved punch to the chin, then gave a wink as he was being escorted off the ice.
Bortuzzo punching Acciari in the face with less than a minute left in Game 6 pic.twitter.com/8Dbgru2RUx
— Heart of NHL (@HeartofNHL) June 10, 2019
Needless to say, this development was not received well by Bruins fans.
Can you imagine if Brad Marchand did what Robert Bortuzzo just did? The overreaction would be insane.
— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonCHN) June 10, 2019
Physicality has always been a part of the 6-foot-4, 221-pound Bortuzzo’s game. He picked up 15 fighting majors in parts of four seasons with the Penguins from 2011-15.
He drew the ire of his old team when he injured Evgeni Malkin with a cross-check to the ribs earlier this season.
Evgeni Malkin slow to get up after hit by Robert Bortuzzo. #STLvsPIT pic.twitter.com/C3OC02g5TC
— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) March 16, 2019
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.