Avalanche’s Josh Manson gets brutally honest about his butt-end attack vs. Wild

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson was at the center of a first-period controversy in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Minnesota Wild during Monday night’s 5-2 win that gave Colorado a 3-1 series lead.

Midway through the opening period at Grand Casino Arena, Manson was driven into the boards by Minnesota center Michael McCarron. Both players went down on top of each other during the ensuing scramble. As McCarron remained over him, Manson responded with a stick action that was later reviewed and assessed as a double minor penalty for butt-ending. The Wild converted during the four-minute power play, with Danila Yurov scoring his first career playoff goal on a deflection from Brock Faber to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

The incident came during a physical sequence that escalated quickly, with Manson already having returned to playoff action after a five-game absence due to an upper-body injury. While the penalty was a costly one for the Avalanche, they ultimately recovered to win the contest.

McCarron strongly criticized the play during an interview with ESPN’s PK Subban at the first intermission.

“I mean, you played against Josh. He’s a dirty player. He’s always been,” said McCarron. “Surprised he got away with only a 4-minute. I’m happy he’s still in the game.”

After the game, Manson addressed the sequence directly, acknowledging the infraction while disputing intent.

“I mean, he hits me, but then he lands on me. So I didn’t really like that, to be honest with you,” Manson said. “We’re in a scrum, and I just, I mean, I butt ended him. Was it on purpose? Was that my intention? Absolutely not. My intention wasn’t to butt-end him.

“Did I want to punch him in the head? I did want to punch him in the head, yeah. I was trying to give him a smack because I didn’t like that he landed on me. I didn’t think that was fully necessary. But, you know, I served my four-minute penalty. They looked at it and, yeah, like I said, it wasn’t my intention to butt-end him in the face. It was more trying to smack him in the head. I think I just lost awareness of where the grip was.”

Manson also referenced his disciplinary history when responding to McCaplay’s criticism, saying:

“That’s fine if he wants to call me a dirty player. He can just look at my history. I mean, it’s been 13 years and I haven’t been suspended yet,” Manson said. “So obviously, I’m not that dirty. You know what I mean. I think there are other guys in the league that are doing more. But was that the cleanest play? No. I mean, was it purposeful? No, it wasn’t purposeful either. But like I said, I served my time. They scored on it, so I mean, benefited them. But, yeah, that’s his perspective.”

The double minor remained the only penalty assessed on the play. Nevertheless, Colorado rebounded with power-play and third-period goals from Nazem Kadri, Ross Colton, Parker Kelly, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brock Nelson, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves in the victory that moved the Avalanche within one victory of clinching a Western Conference Final berth, which they can do in Game 5 on Wednesday in Denver.

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