Bruins’ O’Reilly Reportedly Uses Kind of Power Play on Offending Auto

The Boston Bruins refused comment Tuesday on a published report that Coach Terry O’Reilly, incensed over a parked car blocking the team bus in Hartford, smashed the car’s window with a tire iron and led several players in manually moving the car.

The incident allegedly took place behind the Hartford Civic Center Saturday night, after the Bruins’ 4-2 loss to the Hartford Whalers, the Naugatuck, Conn., Daily News reported.

“Terry O’Reilly has no comment. The Bruins have no comment,” team spokesman Nate Greenberg said. “We’re preparing for a playoff game.”

The Bruins open the playoffs at home tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.

The report in the Naugatuck newspaper was based on an eyewitness account by Joe Palladino, a reporter who covers the Whalers for the paper.

Palladino said the Bruins’ chartered bus, parked underneath the Civic Center, was blocked on an exit ramp by four illegally parked cars. Three cars were moved, but a fourth still blocked the bus.

After a delay of about 15 minutes, Palladino said O’Reilly, one of the league’s all-time leaders in penalty minutes during his playing days, became agitated. O’Reilly borrowed a tire iron, used it smash a window of the car and began searching inside, presumably for a key, Palladino said.

Palladino said O’Reilly and Bruin players Glen Wesley, Jay Miller, Cam Neely, Allen Pedersen, Craig Janney and Lyndon Byers then pushed the car out of the way and into the middle of the street, blocking two lanes of traffic. The Bruins’ bus then left, Palladino said.