Following a nasty ending to the first-round series between the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators, fans reacted to the physical chaos of that battle, including Ridly Greig's sucker punch on Sean Walker.
Game 4 between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Ottawa Senators was a flat-out warzone. Monstrous hits were thrown, sucker punches and cheap shots were landed, and the hatred between these two teams was on full display.
Most of the violent action came in the second period, and it all started with what could be called the biggest hit of the Stanley Cup playoffs so far. Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven laid a huge hit on Hurricanes rookie blueliner Alexander Nikishin.
From that point on, this contest turned to chaos, and fans have voiced their opinions all over social media.
"Hardest hit I’ve seen in a long time. Feeling for Nikishin but hoping this wakes the sens up," @mondoggg posted on X.
"That might be the hardest hit I’ve ever seen," @aRandoSportsFan wrote on X.
"as someone not at all emotionally invested in in this series this is a clean hit just real unfortunate," @carl_swaglin said on X.
"Dirty hit. I hope Deslauriers sends someone out in a body bag," @Jared_Shafit posted.
"why are we fighting after clean hits?" @LilKden said on social media.
As the period went on, the physicality and bad blood only escalated. After an icing call, there was a large scrum at center ice that saw plenty of wrestling matches and headlocks. That includes Ottawa left winger Warren Foegele grabbing hold of Carolina D-man Sean Walker.
Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators (Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images)As Foegele and Walker were tied up, Ottawa's Ridly Greig hung around the scrum and landed an uppercut punch on Walker while he was defenseless. This went unnoticed by the officials in real time, but it didn't get past the media and fans online.
"The Greig sucker punch was absolutely gutless," @Kenny_S11 reacted on X.
"Ridley Greig what a coward move that was," @Alex_Aebli posted.
"I absolutely hate Ridly Greig man. Disgusting sucker punch to Sean Walker," @austinr8891 wrote on X.
"No surprise there, Ottawa has the dirtiest roster in the playoffs," @devan_cooley reacted.
"I was told we were dirty. Greig should get a multi game suspension that’s absolutely disgusting," @WallersBurner said on X.
TNT NHL analyst Paul Bissonnette took his opinions to social media and on air regarding Greig's punch on Walker.
"It’s pandemonium. Ottawa and Carolina just trying to kill one another. Tkachuk just trucked Hall. Ridly Greig should be gone after that bulls--t sucker punch on Walker," he posted on X.
"That's a five-gamer in my opinion," Bissonnette said on the TNT broadcast.
Ultimately, the Hurricanes beat the Senators 4-2 to complete the series sweep, making Carolina the first team to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
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