FIGHT: Wayne Simmonds and Nick Foligno drop the gloves
Saturday night's game between the Leafs and Bruins didn't need a whole lot of extra hyping up. Everybody from players to coaches to fans and analysts knew going in that this was going to be a big game. The top two teams in the NHL, bitter rivals, playoff history, playoff implications and the return of Auston Matthews, all on a Saturday night in Boston. Hockey doesn't get better than that!
Among the minor storylines going into the game were the absences of both Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann, both players were unavailable due to illness. As a result, Wayne Simmonds and Dryden Hunt were called upon to fill the gaps in the Leafs lineup. One of the two was probably going to draw in anyway. Against a team like Boston, having some extra sandpaper is never a bad idea.
Simmonds made his presence felt early, taking a run at former Leaf Nick Foligno early in the first.
Clearly, Foligno didn't take kindly to being knocked on his backside. He got up and went right after Simmonds and the two dropped the mitts for what was easily the best tilt of the Leafs season so far
Maybe the best part of the entire sequence was Simmonds' father's reaction, or lack thereof. That is a man who has seen his son's fists collide with a lot of faces over the years!
