Ryan Reaves bit off a little more than he could chew on Tuesday night.
Reaves, now with the San Jose Sharks, dropped the gloves at center ice with noted tough customer Mathieu Olivier, and the Columbus Blue Jackets forward made him pay. After the two threw a flurry of heavy blows, Reaves appeared to get stunned, and Olivier caught him in the left temple with one final right cross.
The punch knocked Reaves out cold for a few seconds, and the veteran forward stumbled as he tried to get to his feet.
Olivier, sensing that Reaves didn’t have all of his faculties, tried to protect the downed forward before skating off the ice.
“Obviously, I asked him, he obliged,” Olivier said postgame. “He’s been doing this for so long. It’s very impressive how he’s had the career he’s had and been doing it year after year. It was an open fight, and anyone can get caught. Once I felt he was going down, try to hold him up. I think everyone does the same thing.”
Reaves admitted during his own postgame media availability that the knockdown was the first he’s ever experienced, and seemingly had him questioning how much longer he could live the life of an NHL enforcer.
“He’s one of the toughest in the league,” Reaves told reporters. “That’s the first time that I’ve been caught and knocked down like that. When you go up against a guy like that, I’m 38, getting a little older, so eventually I was going to get caught. Today was the day, so we’ll get him back next time.”
The fight came the ensuing shift after Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski had scored to cut San Jose’s lead to 2-1, and was prompted by Olivier wanting to inject more energy into his team’s bench after a poor first two periods.
“They had no momentum, and Olivier asked me,” Reaves said. “If I say no and I need one later, he’s going to say no. There’s not a lot of guys that are willing to give guys anymore. I know in the future, one day, I’m going to need one from him, and I’m sure he’ll give it to me. That’s all that was.”
The two combatants have fought once prior, last season, when Reaves was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Olivier also got the better of Reaves in that contest, one that many would later label the league’s likely fight of the year.
Despite evidence that Reaves was knocked out and left dazed by Tuesday’s bout, he did return for the third period and took five more shifts in the game. He was asked to describe what went on behind the scenes to get him cleared for that return and shed some light on the NHL’s concussion protocol.
“I had to memorize some words: cotton, honey, arrow,” Reaves said. “The months of the year backwards. I had to do some number games, some balance stuff. Passed with flying colors.”
The fight was Reaves’s fourth of the season after he had just one, against Olivier, last season. The Winnipeg native has three goals in 36 games for the Sharks this year.
With Reaves back on the ice, the Sharks were able to hang on to their lead over the Blue Jackets. Zack Ostapchuk, Mario Ferraro, and Macklin Celebrini all scored third-period goals to lead the team to a 5-2 victory at SAP Center.
