Goon Appreciation Day: Tanner Glass And Luke Witkowski Trade Bombs For Over A Minute Straight
The way I’m going rule this fight is the moment these two goons initiate contact to the moment the linesmen step in to break it up. So the gloves are dropped 14 seconds into the video. First contact doesn’t come until 17 seconds in. Linesmen let it go on forever and finally jump in around the 1:19 mark on the video. Players aren’t totally separated until 1:21. So depending on how you want to judge it, this tilt went on anywhere between 1:02 to 1:07. Regardless, that’s over a minute of throwing heavy ass bombs at each other.
Love the linesmen closing in to stop the fight, reassess the situation and let the boys keep dancing. Obviously the fighting numbers in the NHL continue to decrease as the years go by and we’re at a point where it seems like officials jump in to break up fights before 95% of them even get started. Good to see the boys understand what they had on their hands here and let Glass and Witkowski continue to bash each others’ face in for their team. This was Tanner Glass’s first game with the Rangers of the 2016-17 season. Luke Witkowski is in and out of the Lightning’s lineup. These are two guys who are fighting for a job in the NHL. 2 guys who have paychecks on the line that they are literally and figuratively fighting for here. You step in to break up that fight early, you’re potentially taking a job away from either one of these guys.
So stick taps all around for these goons. They may not be the most skilled players in the world. They may get paid to bleed for their team. But that’s fucking heart if I’ve ever seen it. Going 62-67 seconds of full blown combat not because you want to, but because you have to. Love it.