Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy and Boston Bruins' Jeremy Swayman drop the gloves in a goalie fight during the second period of the Stadium Series matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
Around the midway point of the second period in the Stadium Series game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins, goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jeremy Swayman dropped the gloves and fought.
During a Lightning power play, left winger Brandon Hagel was causing a disturbance in front of Swayman, getting in his personal space as Nikita Kucherov fired the puck from the point.
Swayman took exception to Hagel's actions as he jumped on top of him and began to throw a couple of punches. Following a brief scrum, the Bruins' goaltender moved away from the pile to see Vasilevskiy storming down toward him from the opposite side of the rink at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
The two netminders met around center ice and didn't hold back. Vasilevskiy and Swayman continued to throw as many punches as they could, despite all the equipment the goalies wear.
Fittingly, the Bruins and Lightning have the most major penalties in the NHL going into this contest. Tampa Bay leads the league with 26, and Boston is just behind them with 23.
Remarkably, this isn't the first goalie fight to happen this season. About two weeks ago, Florida Panthers' Sergei Bobrovsky and San Jose Sharks' Alex Nedeljkovic threw down in a goalie fight.
That was the first tilt between two goaltenders since Cam Talbot and Mike Smith on Feb. 1, 2020 - exactly six years ago.
Unlike the Bobrovsky and Nedeljkovic fight, Vasilevskiy and Swayman removed their helmets before their bout.
The Bolts and Bruins goaltenders received a total of seven penalty minutes on the play. They were charged five minutes each for fighting, plus an additional two minutes for leaving the crease.
Jeremy Swayman and Andrei Vasilevskiy (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)With that, Vasilevskiy's total penalty minutes add up to 11 on the season, which is the second-most in the NHL among goalies behind the New York Rangers' Jonathan Quick, who has 14.
Swayman now has accumulated nine penalty minutes on the year, which makes him tied for third in that category in his position. He has the same number of penalty minutes as Nedeljkovic and Bobrovsky.
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