The Washington Capitals nearly saw one of their goaltenders get in a goalie fight again.
This time, Logan Thompson dropped “his gloves” — in his case: his mask, catching glove, and blocker pad — after Carolina Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen left his crease to join a fracas between the Caps and Canes with five minutes remaining in the first period.
Nic Dowd started the melee as he went in hard on the forecheck behind the Hurricanes’ net, bowling over goaltender Andersen. Carolina’s defenders immediately took offense to the contact made with their netminder, and everyone below the red line brawled, including Andersen.
Even Stormy wanted a piece.
Andersen’s aggression towards Dowd drew the attention of Thompson, who skated out to center ice. But the on-ice officials prevented the two puck stoppers from getting anywhere near each other — similar to what happened between Charlie Lindgren and Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark a couple of weeks ago.
While the ruckus along the boards continued, Martin Fehervary and Jackson Blake began scuffling in the corner. Seeing that Fehervary was getting the better of Blake, Logan Stankoven jumped in as the third man and dropped the gloves with the Slovakian rearguard.
📸: j00lep from #crashers
📸: j00lep from #crashers
Fehervary and Stankoven both left the bout bloodied, with Fehervary getting the takedown victory.
After the dust settled, the referees assessed a total of 16 penalty minutes and gave the Hurricanes a power-play opportunity. Dowd was handed a two-minute minor for goaltender interference, Fehervary got two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting, Andersen received two minutes for roughing, and Stankoven got five minutes for fighting.
The fracas completed an active first period from the Capitals’ fouth line, with Duhaime scoring the game’s lone goal after a brilliant feed from Ethen Frank.
Frank also drew a penalty on the Hurricanes earlier in the stanza.