Reaves: 'Going to keep burying guys,' inflict pain legally

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves agrees with Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse that he's trying to "inflict pain" on the ice.

"That's a fact, and that's not going to stop," Reaves told reporters Tuesday, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "But I'm going to continue to do it legally. I'm going to keep playing hard, if not harder now, and I'm going to keep burying guys."

Reaves delivered an illegal hit to Nurse's head on Nov. 16 that resulted in the NHL suspending the Maple Leafs forward for five games. Toronto's enforcer acknowledged Tuesday that Nurse is allowed to have thoughts on his style of play, even if he disagrees.

"When you get caught by somebody, I think you're entitled to your opinion, and that's fine," Reaves said, per Masters. "But I think my 900 games and however many thousands of hits I have speaks for itself. I play physical every game, and I've been doing it for 15 years, and I've only had a couple suspensions."

Reaves described what went wrong on the hit, saying he "took a couple inches too bad of an angle and caught him."

"Just an unfortunate incident that if I'm a second later, I catch body," he added, according to Masters. "Obviously, something you don't want to see, but just a split-second too early."

Reaves didn't offer an opinion on the length of his suspension but noted the $35,156 in salary he forfeited put a dent in his holiday plans.

"I don't want to get into that," Reaves said. "I already told the kids that Christmas is canceled. I don't want to get fined again. It's over. We're just going to leave it at that."

Reaves can return from his suspension Wednesday against the Nashville Predators. The 37-year-old has one assist and 23 penalty minutes in 16 games this season.