Penguins Defenseman Wins First Career Fight in Mismatch
Ever since joining the team between the preseason and puck drop of the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been impressed with rookie defenseman John Ludvig.
In just the fifth game of his young career, Ludvig not only recorded his first point, but showed his fighting ability by taking on a much larger opponent.
In his first career donnybrook, the 6-foot-1, 213 pound Ludvig took on the Nashville Predators’ Michael McCarron who stands at 6-foot-6, 232 pounds.
McCarron is the Predators tallest and heaviest player, but Ludvig kept up in the mismatch, even landing a few blows.
It's not easy to be able to lead with both hands in a fight, but Ludvig was able to switch off and still have a good position.
Ludvig said afterwards that he expected some kind of repercussion as he kept playing hard against the Predators’ top players.
He’s only played in five career games, but Ludvig has already proven to be a physical force on the Penguins blue line.
In his NHL debut, Ludvig left early after suffering a concussion attempting to lay a big open ice hit; he knocked himself out on the play.
After returning to the lineup, Ludvig didn’t slow down the physicality and continued to throw his body around to disrupt opponents.
Ludvig has looked a lot like Mark Friedman but with more upside since joining the Penguins, especially following the Penguins dealing of Friedman early in the season.
More often than not, it’s hard to determine who ‘won’ a scrap, but according to the voters on hockeyfights.com, Ludvig was clearly victorious.
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The fight and an assist on Bryan Rust's goal all play a hand in what was arguably Ludvig's best game of his young career.
Head coach Mike Sullivan believes Ludvig is a player who could stick in the Penguins defensive lineup, even when fully healthy.
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