The Minnesota Wild got the win Wednesday over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
However, the Wild’s response to a pair of on-ice incidents involving Leafs’ forward Nazem Kadri was a topic of discussion following Minnesota’s shootout victory.
Kadri ran Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, forcing him from the game with an injury, and was ejected in the third period for an illegal hit to the head of Mikael Granlund.
Hockey analyst Mike Milbury said during an intermission segment on NHL on NBCSN ‘This is when someone has to take care of Nazem Kadri.” He advocated for fighting as a way of “policing” such incidents.
“Do we match up against that team’s toughness? No, we don’t,” said Wild head coach Mike Yeo, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“If we want to start trading off, we go after Kadri, next thing you know, what are they going to go after? They’re going to go after our guys too and again we don’t match up in that toughness department against them.
“Now we do have a team that cares about each other very much, and we stick up for each other, trust me.”