Two NHL Players Punched Each Other About The Face And Head Last Night (Video)

Ah yes, a little bit of the old NHL ultraviolence on a lovely Friday morning. This entry comes from Thursday night’s Predators-Maple Leafs game and it featured the scrappy pugilistic stylings of Nashville’s Brian McGrattan and Toronto’s Jay Rosehill and let me tell you, the fists were flying with alarming tenacity.

There is a whole heaping load of good stuff in this on-ice scrape, beginning with the rapid fire punches from each combatant to start the tilt. I mean they’re really going after each other. I got tired just watching them go at it. As the fight moves on, Rosehill goes with one of my favorite hockey fight moves: the jab with the hand that is grabbing the other guy’s jersey. Then, as the two near exhaustion, a final flurry of haymakers. Finally, as the two are separated, McGrattan raises his arms triumphantly to the adoring, bloodthirsty Nashville crowd. Good stuff.

But, as it often goes in NHL fights, most of the punches don’t land flush on skin or skull, they come crashing down upon the helmet, which I imagine does just as much damage to the fighter’s hand than it does their foe. Still, it was nevertheless a thing of savage beauty. According to HockeyFights.com (where, according to the online voting at the time of this post, the Predators pugilist now has garnered 96.3% of the vote as the winner), McGrattan said afterward that his “hands are ok, I hit his bucket a couple of times at the end. [It was a] good tilt, I feel better and more comfortable than I ever have. Big props to Rosehill, too.”

Look at that. Respect for the opponent. That’s why fighting in hockey such an enthralling spectacle. Well, that and all the punching.