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Fight proves costly for Flames’ Travis Hamonic

Calgary Flames v Vancouver Canucks

VANCOUVER, BC - OCTOBER 3: Erik Gudbranson #44 of the Vancouver Canucks knocks down Travis Hamonic #24 of the Calgary Flames during a fight in NHL action on October, 3, 2018 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

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Dillon Dube didn’t see Erik Gudbranson coming, which resulted in the Calgary Flames rookie getting drilled by the Vancouver Canucks defenseman during Wednesday night’s opener. That led to a scrum, which later led to Travis Hamonic sticking up for his teammate later in the game.

The kid was certainly appreciative of Hamonic.

“It shows how big of a leader (Hamonic) is,” Dube said afterward. “I can’t thank him enough for what he did. When you do that for a teammate, it means a lot. That’s the presence he has. I was even nervous to go talk to him, because I didn’t know if he’d be mad at me for having to go fight. He was really happy about it. He was proud. I can’t say enough about that leadership.

“That really makes me feel welcome in the room when somebody will go and do that for me.”

The good news is that Dube was fine. Now the bad news.

As you see, Hamonic took an upper-cut that ended the fight. He would go get checked out and return to play the remainder of the game sporting protection around his mouth. The defenseman didn’t participate in Thursday’s practice and the Flames announced that he suffered a facial fracture and is considered “week-to-week.”

Rasmus Andersson has been recalled from AHL Stockton.

This will put a hold on the developing chemistry between Hamonic and Noah Hanifin and impact the team’s No. 1 penalty kill unit. It almost might reignite -- in some corners -- the fighting debate, and in an instance like this, with a clean, hard hit, was Hamonic’s defense of the rookie a smart move now considering the injury?

The decision certainly had an impact inside the Flames’ locker room given the comments of Dube and others. That culture still exists in hockey, and while fighting overall may be exiting the game slowly, instances like this won’t go away anytime soon.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.