Peter Laviolette drops F-bomb on NBC before Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

The Predators coach eluded the censors in his pregame speech.

The Nashville Predators are playing in their first-ever Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the players are pretty amped up. So, too, is head coach Peter Laviolette, whose pep talk before Game 1 featured some locker-room language that typically doesn’t make it to national television.

Hockey coaches are known for their colorful choice of words behind closed doors, but rarely does any of it come through on a network like NBC. Laviolette slipped an F-bomb by the censors while addressing his players on Monday, telling them that “Game 1 is up for grabs, it’s up to us to f****** take it.”

People in the hockey community talk like that all the time of course, but usually if a player or coach is mic’d up the swearing can be muted in the editing room. On live TV, networks don’t have that luxury.

NBC announcer Doc Emrick apologized for airing the obscenity during the first period.

One of the most memorable examples of NHL coach profanity was Bruce Boudreau’s swear-laden tirade to his Washington Capitals players in an episode of HBO’s 24/7 series a few years ago. The Caps were playing poorly against the Florida Panthers, and the result was a golden rant where Boudreau used the F-word like a punctuation mark.

Laviolette’s speech doesn’t seem to have done his team much good, as the Preds gave up three goals in the first period to go down 3-0 after 20 minutes. Nashville appeared to have scored first, but PK Subban’s blast was overturned after officials ruled the play was offside.

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The Predators will look to get back into this game in the second period and avoid going down 1-0 in the series. Game 2 will be on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, before the final shifts to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday.