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Idiotgate: Phil Kessel and Jay Beagle are beefing and the only way to solve it is Mario Kart

By Ian Oland

 2 Comments

May 3, 2017 1:05 pm

The Capitals and Penguins rivalry is heating up. Kinda. Sorta. Not really.

Wednesday, two days after the Penguins lost Sidney Crosby to a concussion, Penguins forward Phil Kessel called Jay Beagle an “idiot” for comments he didn’t actually make about the Matt Niskanen hit.

This is very confusing. I will explain.

After the Penguins’ morning skate Wednesday, reporters asked Kessel about Niskanen’s hit on Crosby and how the Penguins would respond. A minute and a half into questions which again, were basically all about Crosby, this was asked:

“Jay Beagle said the playoffs should be nasty, that’s the way they like to play.”

“Yeah, well, if he thinks that’s clean, he’s an idiot,” Kessel responded.

The quote the reporter was pulling from was a conversation Beagle had with the press on Tuesday morning at the Capitals’ hotel. Beagle was asked if he expected the nastiness from Game Two to spill over. He was not speaking about the Niskanen hit.

“Yeah, I mean, it should be nasty,” Beagle said. “It’s the playoffs. That’s the we like to play. That’s the way they like to play. Hard hits, going after each other. These are two teams that don’t like each other. It’s fun to play hard between the whistles.”

Wednesday afternoon, reporters informed Beagle about Kessel’s “idiot” comment. “Ouch,” Beagle said before adding they could settle their differences over Mario Kart.

Here’s the full conversation.

Kessel said if you think that was a clean hit, you’re an idiot.

Jay Beagle: “Ouch. That hurts. That’s- That’s not very nice, but I mean I guess he said what he said.”

Did you think it was a clean hit on Sid?”

Jay Beagle: “No, no, obviously not. I mean, just like Nisky [said], he didn’t mean to do it, right? So, obviously, it wasn’t a clean hit. But, I do think the playoffs are nasty, that’s why we love them right? Growing up, watching playoff hockey. You know, just the way the hits are, just the way how hard everyone is going, and how it’s ramped up. It’s fun. It’s fun playoff hockey. So, I mean, I didn’t comment at all on the hit. The hit obviously, was not intentional by Nisky at all when you watch it. But I do like nasty playoff hockey.”

What do you think of him calling you an idiot?

Jay Beagle: “No, I mean. It hurts. I’m hurt deeply. I don’t know if he wants to settle it, we could always play some Mario Kart. He knows where to find me. I mean, we’ll take it there.”

So in conclusion, this beef is about nothing and is all a big misunderstanding. But if the two do play Mario Kart, Beagle is Toad and Kessel is Wario and these are the only options.

Additional reporting by Chris Gordon and Elyse Bailey.

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