In a series we all thought was going to be nasty, it’s safe to say the Florida Panthers’ second-round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs has lived up to the hate-filled hype.
In Game 1, Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz was reportedly stretchered out of the arena and to a hospital after taking an "accidental elbow" to the head from Sam Bennett. Since then, we've seen Florida's Evan Rodrigues get hit from behind, Toronto's John Tavares get hit high and Florida's Aleksander Barkov get sent face-first into the boards.
And we’re potentially only halfway through what looks like it could be a seven-game series.
But for all the head shots, cheap shots and verbal pot shots delivered in this second-round clash, what we still haven’t seen is a single fight.
No question, we’ve seen droplets of blood spilled on the ice – as well some vomit on the bench. But despite all the trash talk coming from Florida's bad boy trio of Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand and Bennett, no one has actually dropped the gloves — much less brawled.
That's probably why there has been no calls for Toronto to inject Ryan Reaves into Game 5.
Why would there be? It's not like anyone is fighting in these playoffs.
On Monday, the spur-of-the-moment tilt between Vegas’ Nicolas Hague and Edmonton’s Trent Frederic was the first “official” fight after nearly three weeks of playoff hockey.
Before that, there were no fights in the Battle of Ontario, despite both teams combining for 57 penalties in six games. There were no fights in the Battle of Florida, in which the teams traded questionable hits and where Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad was suspended for delivering a head shot on Lightning winger Brandon Hagel.
So far, there hasn’t been a fight in the second-round series between Carolina and Washington, despite all the bad blood that carried over from the regular season. None between Winnipeg and Dallas, or in the previous series between Winnipeg and St. Louis, despite Jets center Mark Scheifele getting injured on a high hit from Blues center Brayden Schenn.
The question is why? Why aren't seeing more fights.
It’s not like fighting has gone away from hockey. Or the games have been any less violent. In fact, there were 297 fights in the regular season, which was down slightly from 311 in 2023-24.
Like we're seeing this year, there were only four fights in the playoffs last year. All but one of them occurred in the first round, where the physicality tends to be the highest. No fights happened after the second round. When we did see a fight, it was between Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak, in what was likely his first-ever fight.
Therein lies the answer. It's not the usual suspects dropping the gloves these days, because the usual suspects are not in the lineup.
Reaves, who is Toronto’s enforcer, hasn’t played a single game in the playoffs. Florida’s A.J. Greer, who fought six times in the regular season, has been a healthy scratch in four of the Panthers’ nine playoff games.
You can't fight if your fighters on the bench or are in the press box. And with the fighters no longer policing the action, the games are getting chippier and more violent.
What they are not getting is more punchy. Nor should you expect it.
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