I might be stating the obvious here, but I don’t think the Lightning and Red Wings like each other very much. The two teams ended Game 2 with major hostilities, and as the final horn sounded on the Wings’ 2-0 Game 3 win in Detroit on Sunday night, the teams commenced with more message sending as skirmishes broke out by both benches after Henrik Zetterberg got run:
Justin Abdelkader is high up on the list of Tampa Bay enemies as he pounded on Mike Blunden at the end of the last game. And yet with everything going on at the end of Game 3, I give Brian Boyle credit for being somewhat restrained for not wailing on him even though he’s much bigger than him. In fact, Boyle seemed to take delight in tossing him around like a rag doll as if to remind him “I can kill you with my bare hands anytime I want.”
But we’re at two straight games now that ended in line brawls. Petr Mrazek’s Game 3 shutout is an afterthought to the general hate that these two teams have for one another. This series is and will continue to be a lot of fun.
