Val Nichushkin says Corey Perry intentionally tries to injure opponents

Love him or hate him, when Corey Perry is on the ice you can be sure opponents are looking over their shoulders. Perry comes by his nickname "the worm" honestly, doing whatever it takes to get under the skin of opposing teams. And he's certainly not above bending, or flat-out breaking the rules in order to accomplish what he's trying to do. It certainly caught the attention of Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche in his team's Stanley Cup Final series against the Tampa Bay Lighting.

Nichushkin is currently home in Russia where he is conducting interviews with media outlets there. During one of them, he was asked if any fellow Russians tried to get under his skin during the final round.

"[Mikhail] Sergachev tried to poke me and knock me off balance, and I answered him. That's normal when the Cup was just around the corner," said Nichushkin. "We clung to him, even if we are [both Russians]. I'll say more. In the NHL playoffs, there's a mental game with dirty elements. Everybody tries to get under each other's skin."

He was then asked about Corey Perry, one of the best in the business at agitating.

"No, I don't like his behavior. You can yell at each other, even punch each other in the face if you want to. But when a person purposely falls on people's feet, on their knees to injure and incapacitate them, it's not nice," said Nichushkin. "What good can come from people trying to take away your health by acting out of line?"

If I had to guess, I would say Nichushkin is referring to this incident during the Cup Final where Perry put all his weight on J.T. Compher's ankle while the two were on the ice around the net. There's no doubt this was a calculated move by Perry meant to inflict as much as as he possible could without getting caught.

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