When you're a 5-foot-8, 165-pound skilled forward, odds are you're not going to be a very physical presence.

However, Logan Stankoven seems to be the rare exception.

The Kamloops native is like a honey badger.

He's aggresive on the forecheck, he hunts pucks, he may even bite.

He's also never been one to shy away from the corners or the netfront, to give out or receive a hit, and tonight, he wasn't afraid to throw off the gloves either.

"You never know when it's going to happen, but like I said, you have to jump in sometimes," Stankoven said. "Being a smaller guy, you can't be afraid of getting in there and getting your hands dirty sometimes.

In the first period of the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night game at Lenovo Center — a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals — Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was ran by Capitals forward Nic Dowd, causing a bit of a melee on the boards.

But on the outskirts, Washington defenseman Martin Fehervary had grabbed ahold of Stankoven's linemate and close friend Jackson Blake and was throwing him about.

Seeing this, Stankoven immediately went to his teammates aid and in an instant, both he and the Capitals blueliner threw off the gloves and went at it.

"He showed a lot of heart there," said Sebastian Aho. "Got in there for Blakey and that's what you need to become a team. That will help us have success later this season. That showed a lot of courage on his part. We already knew that. Nobody is expecting him to fight, but protecting your brother out there is a good sign."

For Stankoven, it was not only the first hockey of his professional career, but his first ever.

"I've never had a fight in my life," Stankoven said. "But I think things change over time. I think people change and I think when you see a teammate down like that and they try to push us around, we're not going to stand for that. Just tried to jump in there and next thing you know, gloves were off. I thought it was a great fight."

And you might not think things would work out well for the diminutive forward against a big 6-foot-2, 215-pound man, but Stankoven absolutely fed him with a few big punches.

Fehervary landed one punch to the temple that left Stankoven bleeding and needing some stitching right above his right brow, but he dished out way more than he ate, with the Hurricanes centerman landing at least six punches, including a big three-piece combo to end the scrap.

Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) on X Nic Dowd runs into Frederik Andersen, and chaos ensues, including Logan Stankoven dropping the gloves with Martin Fehervary.

"It was a tough one because that was the line that was out there," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "You know, he might be the toughest guy we had out there with those groups. But he's not gonna back down. We know that. He's a tough kid."

And the crazy S.O.B. came out of the whole experience with a positive review. Despite the blood trailing down his face, the welt on his forehead and the several stitches on his eyebrow, he actually had fun.

"I honestly enjoyed it," Stankoven said. "I don't know if I should do it again or not, but sometimes you have to step up for teammates and stand your ground."

Kid's certainly got heart.

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