Tie Domi reacts to Max Domi jumping rookie defenseman Simon Nemec

Tie Domi was not impressed with Max Domi's decision to drop the gloves with a rookie defenseman when the Toronto Maple Leafs held a one-goal lead in the second period last night.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs up 4-3 and eight minutes left in the second period, Auston Matthews got into a shoving match with New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec along the boards in the Devils' zone. Max Domi, was retrieving the loose puck in the corner when he caught a glimpse of the battle. Once free of the puck, Domi immediately challenged Nemec to a fight in which he dominated the 20-year-old, feeding him a handful of uppercuts.

Domi received 17 penalty minutes in penalties on the play - two for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct - which threw the Leafs' lines into a blender and seemingly shifted the momentum in the Devils' favour. Immediately after the fight, cameras panned to Max's father and Leaf legend Tie Domi in the crowd and his reaction to the fight was not what many would expect. He didn't seem amused. Understanding the time to fight, Tie looked very unimpressed with his son choosing to fight at that time and offered a head shake and a somewhat disgusted look.

If there is one guy that understands when and where to fight, it's Tie. In 1,020 career NHL games, Domi registered 3,515 penalty minutes and fought seemingly every tough guy in the league at some point during his career. With the Leafs having just taken the lead, this was clearly not a smart decision by Max in his eyes, especially when the replay shows that Matthews was the aggressor towards Nemec and not the other way around.


This is not the first time that Tie Domi appeared upset after his son Max has dropped the gloves this season. He was also rather morose to see Max drop the gloves with Mattias Janmark back on March 23rd during a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

I'm sure a large part of Tie's demeanor following these fights is that he doesn't like to see his son fighting at all. I'm sure in Tie's mind, he used his fists so Max didn't have to. However, even though Max is skilled enough to make it to the NHL without the need to fight, nobody can deny that it's in his blood. As much as Tie doesn't like to see it, I'm sure he at least understands it.