Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen got in a rare fight Friday night and it got bloody.
In the second period, teammate Taylor Chorney was injured on a clean hit from Phillip Di Giuseppe. After Di Giuseppe passed on a fight with Brad Malone, the Hurricanes forward was forced to engage with an angry Matt Niskanen.
According to Hockey Fights, the third period bout was Niskanen’s ninth of his career.
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After several cross-checks to the mush, Niskanen dropped his mitts and just started throwing haymakers.
Di Giuseppe would bloody Niskanen’s left cheek after landing what appears to be a a shot to Niskanen’s face shield.
Niskanen would resemble the frequently-bloodied Matt Bradley when cameras found him speaking to an official after the fight.
The Caps defenseman would get 17 penalty minutes for the bout, including an instigator and misconduct.
Niskanen gets two for instigating, five for fighting, a 10-min misconduct and a head start on the hot water in the #Caps' locker room.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 8, 2016
All this fuss was over a clean hit to Chorney who was uninjured and returned to play in the third period.
Hockey, you’re so dumb sometimes.
