Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Hockey: The Arizona Coyotes And Florida Panthers Had 2 Fights In The First 10 Seconds Of The Game
Arizona and Florida. Not necessarily two states that would come to mind when you think about hockey. Neither state can even produce their own ice. But as of January 25, 2024, the Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers might just have the greatest rivalry in hockey.
It's all thanks to that weasel Nick Cousins who got the bad blood flowing a few weeks ago after this greasy hit on Juuso Valimaki.
Jason Zucker had to step in and bury the rat after that hit, because the shit-for-brains officials on the ice clearly had no interest in keeping the game under control themselves. So that was back in the beginning of January, and then last night the Panthers and Coyotes played for the first time since that game.
On the opening faceoff you had Ryan Lomberg lined up at center for Florida going up against Jack McBain for Arizona. Not exactly two guys who you'd consider top line talents. The fact that these two were taking the opening faceoff could only mean one thing…
Puck drop, gloves drop. Electric stuff right out of the gates. Also, we have to give a ton of credit here to the DJ at Amerant Bank Arena for having the John Cena music locked and loaded right away. That's how you know this is the National league. Great touch by the DJ there, and great tilt from the boys to set the tone for how this night was going to go.
The energy in the arena was palpable. The fans wanted blood. They wanted more chaos and carnage. And they got another dose right away on the very next faceoff with Jonah Gadjovich taking on Liam O'Brien.
7 seconds into the game and there were already 2 fights. And I have to say, I think it's a little bullshit they let 5 seconds run off the clock before that first fight. That was almost simultaneous from the puck hitting the ice to the gloves. If anything, both of those fights should have been in the first 5 seconds of the game. I don't have the Elias Sports Bureau on speed dial or anything but I'd imagine that would at least be tied for an NHL record.
The rest of the game pretty much went exactly how you'd figure it would go. The Florida Panthers are significantly better than the Coyotes, and they beat the piss out of them on the ice. 6-2 final with this game being wrapped up before the 1st intermission with the Panthers taking a 3-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. A little scuffle at the end of the game resulting in 24 minutes of roughing penalties being handed out, and that's all she wrote.
As far as the actual hockey is concerned, the Panthers vs Coyotes is still pretty far away from being a halfway decent rivalry. But if these freaks decide to just beat the shit out of each other every time they play from now on, that's how Gary Bettman can finally grow the game in the desert.