Mikhail Sergachev elaborates on nasty messages and threats he received during Cup Final

Shortly after the Tampa Bay Lightning won their second Stanley Cup in a row by defeating the Montreal Canadiens in five games, Bolts defenceman Mikhail Sergachev lashed out at some fans on Twitter saying Habs fans were sending him and some family members awful messages. The Tweet, which he quickly deleted (screenshot) below, came as a result of what many felt was an insult of Montreal fans from Nikita Kucherov, who made fun of them for celebrating in the streets after winning game four. Here is the initial Tweet from Sergachev.

In an interview in his home country of Russia, Sergachev talked more about the messages for the first time since that deleted Tweet.

"The fans thought that if I hit one of their players, then they needed to write all sorts of nasty things to me and my girlfriend. I had never encountered such a thing before," said Sergachev. "When I faced it for the first time, I wanted to answer, but then I thought we're in the final and we'll prove everything on the ice."

Sergachev continued by insisting that it wasn't all fans.

"But I emphasize that not all fans are like that, maybe they weren't fans at all. It was all disgusting. Okay, in our direction, but in the direction of relatives and friends... It was very ugly.," he said. "Then they began to talk about the 18 million cap excess, about Kucherov's 'fake' injury. I don't know why people write so much hate on social networks. I will never understand such people."

"We are all different people. Hate can greatly affect the psychological state of a player. I don't mind being hated, they will never write only good comments, but don't direct it towards our loved ones."

Asked if he and his teammates were bothered by all of the talk of Tampa Bay being $18 million over the salary cap in the playoffs, Sergachev said not at all.

"No, it didn't. We didn't break any rules," said Sergachev. "Even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said we weren't going over anything. The Islanders had an excess of $9 million, Montreal - $5 million. Out of $18 million, 9 is the money that Tampa paid [Marian] Gaborik and [Anders] Nilsson, who long ago retired."

Sergachev was asked if he felt some of the hate from Montreal fans was because he was originally drafted by the Canadiens. He was traded to Tampa Bay in exchange for Jonathan Drouin. He said he did believe that had something to do with it, adding many of the messages told him he didn't know how to play defence. He was also asked if the series against the New York Islanders was tougher than the final against Montreal, to which he answered yes. He added that the Islanders were a stronger team than Montreal in his opinion, but insisted weak teams don't make the Stanley Cup final.

Source: Sport24.ru

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