Despite not having much of a fighting career, David Pastrnak still went at it with Matthew Tkachuk in the third period of the Boston Bruins’ ultimate Game 2 loss to the Florida Panthers. The two stars were jawing at one another before dropping the gloves.
“I thought it was awesome,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters after Wednesday’s victory at Amerant Bank Arena. “… “If you paid money to come to the rink tonight, you had a hell of a night.”
Pastrnak said Tkachuk was asking him to go. And with the Bruins down by five, he decided to “give it a go.”
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The tussle between the two was just one of many fights in Game 2. Tempers flared in the second, but got even chippier in the third period with 11 game misconducts before Pastrnak and Tkachuk were each assessed a misconduct.
With the series now tied at 1-1, the Panthers go to Boston for Games 3 and 4. Despite the win and a slew of momentum on their side, Maurice doesn’t think how things transpired Wednesday — particularly Tkachuk and Pastrnak’s fight — will impact the Bruins in a negative way.
“It won’t change a thing. But, man, I think it’s a good thing,” Maurice said. “You got two elite offensive players. (Tkachuk) is a 100-point guy all day long, Pastrnak’s just this brilliant player. And they each have their team, right? They got their brothers in the room, gets a little spicy out there and they wanna go. I think it was awesome. I think when it was over, they both looked like they were fine. Sorry by whoever’s offended by that concept, I don’t care. I thought it was awesome.”
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery wasn’t thrilled with Tkachuk throwing an extra punch at Pastrnak’s head, noting he believes it’s “not part of the game.”
It will be interesting to see if any tension boils over for the remainder of the series, which continues Friday night at TD Garden for Game 3.
