The Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals might not seem to scream “rivals,” but they’re exchanging enough pleasantries on Tuesday that there should be plenty of distaste between the two teams going forward.
Through two periods of play, the two teams have combined for 60 penalty minutes. There have been three fights, at least one injured player (Michael Latta), one player receiving a 10-minute misconduct (David Clarkson), some blood being scraped off the ice and someone even got ... butt-hammered.
Savard just butt-hammered Glencross as he carried the puck into the #CBJ zone.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 4, 2015
Latta was injured thanks to a hit by Jared Boll, which prompted Tom Wilson to drop his gloves:
Latta had a busy evening, as he fought new Blue Jackets player Justin Falk earlier in the game:
Troy Brouwer and Cody Goloubef fought, which was the latter’s first NHL fight according to Hockey Fights:
The box score tells another story of violence:
We’ll see if there are any extra fireworks in the third, but it’s clear that both teams will be a little bruised after this one.
Update: After the game (which Washington won 5-3), Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson provided these thoughts on the physical play: