Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings Erupt In Game 2 Line Brawl (Video)
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings dissolved into an all-out line brawl in the final minutes of Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There is no denying there is no love lost between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings. These two Atlantic Division rivals have had their fair share of disagreements over the course of the last couple of seasons, but as these two teams met in the center of the ice at the Amalie Arena for Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, things escalated to a whole new level.
If you were one of the people who happened to miss tonight’s game and its rather interesting ending, allow us to paint a clear picture for you. There was less than a minute left in the game and the Detroit Red Wings found themselves down 5-2. Pulling goaltender Jimmy Howard from the net wasn’t much of an option as that move is what lead to the fifth Lightning goal of the night scored by Lightning center Alex Killorn.
Tensions between these two teams had finally reached a boiling point in the final minute of play. While the Red Wings knew in their hearts there was no way they were walking away from this game with a victory, they were still determined to get at least one of the three unanswered goals back for their team. Red Wings center Brad Richards and Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr battled for position in front of the Lightning net.
All it would take is a slash from Brad Richards to Andrej Sustr to create the spark that would turn this game from a heated battle into all-out chaos. Before anyone had any idea what in the world was happening, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings were embattled in an all-out line brawl.
Where things took a very serious turn for the worse is when Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Mike Blunden and Detroit Red Wings left wing Justin Abdelkader got into it in front of the Lightning net. Blunden was already face down on the ice when Abdelkader decided to unleash a furious string of punches to the back of the head. Not exactly a legit move from someone who already has their opponent pinned down to the ice.
After the chaos had finally cleared and the referees had an opportunity to sort out the ridiculous amount of penalties which would result from this, all you could see on the ice was a disastrous display of equipment in every direction you could look.
When all was said and done, there was a total of 93 minutes in penalties would be distributed, 39 of those minutes would belong to the Tampa Bay Lightning while the other 54 would go to the Detroit Red Wings. While we are sure there are more than one reasons for the line brawl we witnessed this evening, we can’t help but think the final straw was the slash from Richards to Sustr in front of Bishop.
Taking a trip back to the Mike Blunden and Justin Abdelkader situation. According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Mike Blunden had to receive nine stitches to seal the wound to his face after the barrage of punches from Justin Abdelkader. We’re just guessing here, but we have a mighty big feeling the NHL Department of Player Safety will be taking a look at this one tomorrow afternoon.
Next: Lightning Vs. Red Wings: How Do These Two Teams Match Up?
The Lightning and the Red Wings have one night to themselves before they head into the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to do it all over again in Game 3 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. There is a pretty good chance we are going to witness some spill-over from tonight’s game into Sunday’s contest. The one thing we know for sure is you won’t want to miss a single moment of the action.