Exclusive: Panthers forward describes brawl with Boston Bruins star as “pushing each other in the face.”
Exclusive: Panthers forward describes brawl with Boston Bruins star as “pushing each other in the face.”
There was a lot of violence in the Boston Bruins’ second-round series against the Florida Panthers, including a brief altercation between two of each team’s stars.
With the Bruins trailing 6-1 at the end of the third period in Game 2, David Pastrnak and Matthew Tkachuk exchanged blows. Even though the fight was short (Patruk was soon taken down to the ice before they were split up), it was an iconic moment from the show.
Tkachuk gave some information during his Tuesday afternoon visit on “The Pat McAfee Show,” one week after the fight.
“All I asked was whether he wanted to fight. “No, I’d rather fight next game,” he uttered. “No, we’re fighting right now,” I responded. He went on, “Okay, maybe,” after that. He then told me he was heading outside after glancing at me from bench to bench. “I said to (coach) Paul (Maurice), ‘I’m going,'” Tkachuk recalled.
To put it simply, Pastrnak treated Jim Montgomery in that manner. He turned to tell his coach he was going back out to fight, and cameras captured that moment. Montgomery made no objections.
There doesn’t seem to be any ill will between Pastrnak and Tkachuk. It amounted to nothing more than two players “trying to punch each other in the face.”
To be really honest, I don’t think it was anything more than two guys attempting to take the other out. It was 6-1 at the time, according to Tkachuk. “Sending a message to your teammates and other things is important, but at the end of the day, all we were doing was fighting and attempting to punch each other in the face. And that’s it.
The day following Game 2, Tkachuk expressed to reporters his “tons of respect” for the Bruins All-Star, pointing out that neither player is particularly well-known for their fighting prowess.
Tkachuk remarked, “You guys need to respect him a whole lot.” “Two players who are perhaps better recognized for their attacking prowess, me and him, and two people who aren’t known for fighting. Huge admiration for him.
According to Montgomery, it was “inspiring” and “fired up” the Bruins.
With a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line, the Panthers, who won the series, will now play the New York Rangers.
