You could tell things were going to get out of hand when the Florida Panthers extended their lead in the third period of Game 2 of their series against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday and it all culminated in a fight between the two teams’ star players. .
With a little over seven minutes left in the third period, Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak could be seen jumping on the ice simultaneously and the fans understood what was going to happen. Both players threw down the gloves and quickly the Bruins forward stumbled, but his Panthers opponent continued to hit him, hitting him at least twice solidly as he fell.
Despite the outcome of the fight, Pastrnak felt he had to respond to the invitation Tkachuk extended to him from the Panthers bench, even if he admits he is not comfortable in this type of situation.
“I don’t have much experience as a fighter. I fell and could have had a better approach. I don’t often find myself in this situation and I don’t want to comment too much,” he mentioned with a smile in the locker room after the match.
“It was for the team. He was asking me and I decided to go. It’s hard to describe, the match was over,” he added.
“During a match there are a lot of emotions. I’m not afraid of him, I can take a hit, and I would do anything for the guys here,” continued Pastrnak.
This streak certainly did not change the final outcome of the game, a 6-1 victory for the Panthers, but Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery praised his player’s courage for accepting the invitation to Tkachuk to throw away the gloves.
“I’m proud of Pasta. There are a lot of players pushing after the whistle when the linesmen are there. Pasta and Tkachuk simply went to fight. That’s what you like, that your players are competitors,” Montgomery said at a press briefing.
For the Panthers, Paul Maurice appreciated this sequence just as much with two players recognized more for their contribution with their points than with their fists.
“I think it’s a good thing. You have two elite players offensively, Tkachuk is a 100 point guy and Pastrnak is brilliant, but it’s the playoffs. They have their brothers on the bench and they want to go. I think it’s incredible. It ended and everyone seemed to be doing well. Sorry if anyone was outraged by this concept, but I thought it was incredible,” described the Panthers head coach.
In this second game alone, 148 penalty minutes were awarded to the two teams, including 77 for the Bruins. Even if the expression “set the table for the next game” is used repeatedly in the playoffs, the Bruins pilot does not necessarily believe that the overflow will continue during the 3rd chapter of the confrontation.
“I don’t think it will follow in the next match. They are two rivals. We are facing them this year and there was the series last year too,” commented Montgomery.
The answer will come Friday evening on the ice at TD Garden.
