The Beautiful Game: David Pastrnak Asking His Coach If He's Allowed To Fight Matthew Tkachuk Is What Makes Hockey So Special
Last night's game 2 between Boston and Florida was olde time hockey at its finest. Eddie Shore. One team beating the shit out of the other team on the scoreboard, the other team throwing a bitch fit because they're getting their asses turned inside out, and the game just devolving into a bunch of melees with a little bit of hockey being played in between. It was awesome. It ruled so damn hard, and the world deserves to see 5 more games of exactly that.
Now a guy like Brad Marchand is one of the biggest rats to ever lace up a pair of skates. You'd expect to see him in the middle of everything. Pat Maroon is one of the slowest dudes to ever step foot on an NHL sheet of ice, so you'd figure the best way for him to contribute is to muck it up after the whistles. David Pastrnak, however, doesn't immediately come to mind when you think about olde time hockey. It's not like he plays a soft game or anything, but according to Hockeyfights.com he's only fought once before in his career and that was 6 years ago.
But he doubled up his career numbers last night when shit started to go off the rails against the Panthers, and Matthew Tkachuk told him on the bench that it was go time.
Tkachuk has the green light to drop the gloves whenever he wants. He's not the Rat King for no reason. There are very few players in the world who can impact a game to the same degree at which Matthew Tkachuk does. The moment he enters the arena, you can feel the opposing team already start to lose their shit. But Jim Montgomery probably doesn't want his best player fighting all the time, if ever at all. So down 6-1 in the 3rd period with 10-minute misconducts already getting handed out like candy, Pasta has to ask to see if he has the green light to go. He knows that fight is going to be the end of the night, and just wants to make sure he's not going to get the shit reamed out of him in the locker room for going with Tkachuk.
Awesome moment. Awesome tilt. I know there are going to be people bitching out there about Tkachuk throwing a couple extra shots at Pasta on the way down, but this is playoff hockey. The code is the code, but the playoffs are the playoffs. That's just the way she goes. Good fight, good night.
Please, Hockey Gods, let this one go 7.