Gudbranson was given a game misconduct for his actions against Florida's Nick Cousins during the third period of Sunday's game in Columbus

The Florida Panthers 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday featured a side of the game of hockey we don’t see very often these days.

It started during the third period of what had been, to that point, a fairly uneventful, fast-paced game.

There had been few whistles and no penalties called through the first forty minutes of the contest, but that sure changed once the third period arrived.

During the opening shift of the final frame, Panthers forward Nick Cousins drove Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson into the bords behind the Columbus goal.

Gudbranson was leaning to one side because he was in the middle of circling around behind his net, and Cousins delivered a hit that pushed Gudbranson’s face and body into the boards.

It looked violent and deserving of a penalty.

Gudbranson immediately fell to the ice with his face in his hands, but after a few seconds, he popped up like nothing had happened and went after Cousins, who stood in pace after the hit below the Columbus goal line.

Cousins’ hit was initially ruled a five-minute major for boarding, but after the officials reviewed the replay, they rescinded the penalty to a two-minute minor.

Afterwards, Gudbranson, who was also given a two-minute minor for roughing, had plenty to say to Cousins as the two sat in their respective penalty boxes.

It would be about five minutes of game time before both Cousins and Gudbranson were on the ice together again.

Cousins worked a give-and-go with Matthew Tkachuk as they crossed the Columbus blue line, and when Cousins passed the puck back to Tkachuk, Gudbranson took the opportunity to get retribution.

He wrapped both his arms around Cousins, put a glove to Cousins’ face and drove him with force into the ice.

Gudbranson then began throwing punch after punch at a defenseless Cousins, who curled up on the ice in an attempt to defend himself from the attack.

Sam Bennett and Tkachuk quickly skated to Cousins’ defense, attempting to pull Gudbranson, who just kept throwing haymakers, off of their teammate.

The end result was fortunately nothing major, just 27 new penalty minutes for Gudbranson, including a game misconduct. Both he and Cousins seemed no worse for the wear afterwards.

Following the game, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that it would hold a hearing with Gudbranson on Monday due to his “altercation with Florida’s Nick Cousins.”

Ultimately, Gudbranson’s actions would garner a one-game suspension from the NHL DOT.

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