The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes opened the NHL regular season on Tuesday, with the Canes holding their banner-raising at Lenovo Center in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,250.
While the game featured no goals in regulation — the Panthers ultimately won 1-0 after Gustav Forsling scored with 5 seconds left in overtime — it did showcase the regular season’s first fight late in the first period.
There, former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins pugilist, Boko Imama, now with Florida, dropped the gloves with Hurricanes forward Nic Deslauriers, one of the league’s most established heavyweights.
The fight began after Deslauriers dropped former Capitals forward Lars Eller with a big hit along the boards, immediately drawing the attention of Imama. The two angry men then met in the Hurricanes’ offensive zone and threw a bunch of wild rights, most of which didn’t land. At the end, Deslauriers tried to wrestle down Imama, but Boko was ultimately the last player standing. Deslauriers then skated around the ice, pumping up the crowd, before leaving the ice and heading down to the locker room.
While the fight was unremarkable, what happened next certainly was.
Deslauriers could be heard screaming at an unknown Panthers player from the bench late in the second period: “Want me to put you on your ass again? You f***ing big b****. F***ing big b****.”
Hot mic (via @GinoHard_)
The telecast showed Imama skating away in the neutral zone as Deslauriers screamed without any reaction, making it unclear, if not unlikely, that the Hurricanes enforcer’s unkind words were directed at him. Perhaps Deslauriers was chatting up Eller, who he crumpled earlier with his big hit, or maybe one of the Tkachuk brothers, who are notoriously two of the biggest chirpers in the NHL.
Regardless, after months of no hockey, this highlight was a reminder that my favorite sport is back bigger and dumber than ever.
