No fighting in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Apparently, no one told the Ottawa Senators’ Brady Tkachuk and the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal.
As the puck dropped for Game 1 of their first-round NHL playoff matchup, the two team captains dropped their gloves right after the opening faceoff and began tussling three seconds into the contest.
Tkachuk appeared to have the advantage initially, connecting with a couple of right-handed punches. But Staal shook off those blows and countered with an upper cut, then followed with a punch that knocked Tkachuk to the ice. From there, officials stepped in and separated the two captains.
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Perhaps it’s a consolation that Tkachuk won the opening faceoff.
The remainder of the first period was relatively anti-climactic after that opening tussle with the Senators and Hurricanes tied 0-0. But Carolina took a 1-0 lead two minutes into the second period with Logan Stankoven scoring on a wrist shot.
The Hurricanes won the Metropolitan division with a 53-22-7 record for 113 points. That matched them with the Senators, who earned the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference at 44-27-11 for 99 points. The winner of this series will face either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Philadelphia Flyers in the second round.
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