The Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins saw their second-round playoff series hit a new level of animosity on Wednesday night.
Defenseman Brandon Montour scored Florida’s sixth goal of the game late in the Panthers’ 6-1 victory over the Bruins in Game Two and his ensuing celebration lit the flame of a frustrated Brad Marchand. The two players engaged in a wrestling match which eventually led to the rest of their teammates squaring off against one another.
The brawl led to four ten-minute misconducts handed out to Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Niko Mikkola, and Sam Reinhart. At the end of regulation, 13 ten-minute misconducts were shared between the two teams from four separate incidents.
Before Marchand was sent to his early shower, Montour made sure to troll the infamous Bruins winger by pretending to try and lick him during the scrum. Marchand was famously admonished by the NHL after he was caught licking Leo Komarov and Ryan Callahan during the 2018 postseason.
Less than a minute after the dust had settled, Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak renewed hostilities. The two star players dropped their gloves in the middle of the ice, with Tkachuk leaving as the clear winner.
Pastrnak was upset after the bout by the extra shots that the Panthers’ star winger threw at him while he was prone on the ice. Both players received five minutes for fighting and ten-minute misconducts.
The game wrapped up without any further major incidents. The two teams combined for 148 penalty minutes, 146 hits, and this special, thoroughly memed interaction between Bruins forward Justin Brazeau and Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.
The second-round series is now tied 1-1 as both teams head up to Boston for two games. Game Three is scheduled for a 7 pm puck drop on Friday.
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