BOSTON -- The NHL has fined Bruins forward Milan Lucic $5,000 for spearing Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser during Detroit's 1-0 Game 1 victory in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs Friday night at TD Garden.

The incident occurred at 19:55 of the second period, but no penalty was assessed on the play. In the closing seconds of the period, Lucic was skating behind DeKeyser when he speared him in the groin area.

"Obviously, it was kind of the heat-of-the-moment thing when you're not thinking when you do something like that," Lucic said after the team's practice Saturday afternoon. "I've been in the league for seven years now and I think I've only done that three times. I don't know why I did it, but it was the heat-of-the-moment things that unfortunately I did. I believe in playing within the rules and, for me, I definitely won't be heading down that road again."

In March, Lucic denied spearing Montreal Canadiens' Alexei Emelin in similar fashion, but Lucic came clean on Saturday.

"It's just funny, I never do that. I mean, I haven't done that but unfortunately I've done it twice in the last little bit here," he said. "I'm not going to make it a habit. I don't know why I did it both times, but it's not going to be a habit of mine. I believe in playing within the rules the right way and that's what I'll continue to do moving forward."

Lucic said he's been on the receiving end of something similar during his career, and it's a practice that occurs often.

"It happens more times than not but with how much video there is today it's a lot harder to get away with," he said.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said he did not see the play.

"Our video doesn't show it, so I can't comment on it," he said. "I think it was seen on another station and I haven't looked at it yet, so I can't say much about it. But obviously if it's serious enough to get a call then hopefully he has to adjust and rectify that, so I've heard of it but haven't seen it."

After Detroit's practice Saturday afternoon, DeKeyser said there were no lingering effects from the spear.

"I didn't really know what happened. I was just skating back to the bench, and to be honest right after the play I didn't know who did it," he said. "I'm fine. It's just happens sometimes during the game, so you just deal with it."

When told of Lucic's comment about how it happens often during the season, DeKeyser agreed.

"Every now and then. I think emotions run high during the games, so stuff happens all the time," he said.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock did not want to elaborate on the incident.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I think," Babcock said. "They pay people to look at that stuff."