David Pastrnak’s physical pushback in Game 2 helped make a statement
It was a heated Game 2 between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers on Wednesday night, as the Panthers evened up the series with a 6-1 win.
But it wasn’t the score or the result that caught people’s attention. Midway through the third period, with the game already out of reach, David Pastrnak and Matthew Tkachuk started yapping at one another.
It appeared that Pastrnak, who had one career fight in the NHL, looked to be asking permission from Bruins’ head coach Jim Montgomery to fight Tkachuk, to which Montgomery agreed.
The two went at it, and while Pastrnak didn’t get many punches in, the message was sent from the Bruins: we’re not backing down.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Panthers’ win and the Bruins’ response.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Out in Florida, the Boston Bruins looked for a 2-0 series lead but they didn’t get it, with the Panthers winning 6-1. Last night, boy did it ever get spicy. To steal a line from our friend Pete Blackburn, Pastrnak and Tkachuk dropping the mitts was not on anyone’s playoff bingo cards.
It was a wild tilt and a passionate night in Florida, and if you’re Boston, you probably didn’t love seeing Pastrnak get in a fight, but it’s the playoffs.
Frank Seravalli: Not really shocked that Florida got the bounceback win, but I love the pushback from David Pastrnak. You know what? “Oh we can’t have our top guys fighting,” is anyone saying that about Matthew Tkachuk? And more than that, as Pastrnak said after the game, “Sometime you have to fight, sometimes you’ve had enough.”
If you’re a highly-skilled player and you go into a fight thinking you’re going to get hurt, but if you go into it full of anger and rage, you’re going to be fine, for the most part. Did it look pretty? No. Did it seem he took more punches than he threw? One hundred percent. But a statement from the Bruins on a night they got pummelled on the ice — this is what the playoffs are.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…