The Red Wings Tried to Mess Around and the Canes Got Physical
Before we talk about the fight (I’m such a tease, I know) let’s talk about the complete play by the entirety of the defense. From Haydn Fleury to Jake Gardiner, every defender stepped up and snuffed every attempt by the Red Wings to generate any sort of meaningful offense helping Mrazek secure his first donut of the season and the team come up big.
But it was more than just stick play and blocks. They showed up with the body and put the Red Wings on notice from the very first minutes.
None were more keep to throw the body around and keep the puck out of the defensive zone than Brady Skjei who had two excellent hits. Even the offense was throwing the body around with new-comer Jesper fast leading the way with five solid hits.
When the Red Wings decided to take exception to that and took a cheap shot at Jordan Staal at the boards, the Hurricanes didn’t back down and we got a heavyweight bout that featured Dougie Hamilton who absolutely rag-dolled Sam Gagner in defense of his captain.
https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1349903136207609856
More from Cardiac Cane
- 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
- Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
- Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
- The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
- Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes
You always have to love seeing Hamilton defend his teammates like this. Considering it is two days shy of a full year since he broke his foot, perhaps it may be best to leave that sort of fisticuffs to the younger breed like Brock McGinn (who had another excellent pair of penalty kills by the way) or even Svechnikov.
Still, the fact that this team will fight and do so for each other from day one shows the kind of gel that you can only get when a roster like this barely shifts in the offseason. Expect more of this physicality over the next 55+ games as we dig in and get more and more hockey.
I know there are more players who did excellent things during this game that I didn’t get to give the proper credit they deserve, but let’s take this one game at a time. We have a long shortened season ahead of us.
The next game will be at 7 PM ET on Saturday, so rewind your alarms back 30 minutes from what you had set them to tonight.
Question For CC Readers: How do you feel today after yesterday’s win?