Derek Lalonde sounds off on his ejection

It was a first last night for Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, who was given a game misconduct and tossed from their game at Little Caesars Arena against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Lalonde was irate after it was ruled by the on-ice officials that Jeff Carter legally scored a goal, despite forward Jason Zucker pushing goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic's pad across the red goal line along with the puck. After an expletive-filled outburst, cameras caught Lalonde calmly walking back to the dressing room; it was soon announced that he'd been assessed a misconduct, the first of his coaching career. Assistant coach Bob Boughner would take over for the remainder of the night. 

Following practice this morning, Lalonde explained his side of things while keeping it classy. 

"It was the accumulation of my reaction on the initial calls, which was a little much, and then our conversation at the timeout, which was three minutes later. It was very calm but I just think he (the official) had enough of a combination of both," Lalonde said. "I was a little shocked. I don't know if it was warranted but he has every right to do that. He's trying to manage a game." 

"It was very calm. I asked him one question and said I felt it was under the pad. He said it wasn't. I had my comment and he probably didn't like it and didn't say a word and calmly skated out and gave the sign. I assumed it was an ejection. It was not a heated exchange. As far as the call, I would make that challenge 100 out of 100 times. I'm very comfortable with it."

While drawing a comparison to baseball managers getting ejected, Lalonde said that he doesn't want to be known for losing his temper. 

“It’s a little unfortunate,” Lalonde said. “It’s just not the culture of our sport. Other leagues, getting ejected, being demonstrative on the sidelines or on the bench, it’s applauded sometimes. Our culture is calm demeanor. Obviously, I don’t want to put myself in those situations.”