The prevailing thought seems to be that fighting has "NO PLACE" in the NHL, because like everything nowadays, we have to go the extreme route rather than meet in the middle. On Tuesday night, Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn and New Jersey Devils forward Miles Wood proved that every now and then, there's always a place for a good donnybrook in the NHL.
Benn, who is one of the more skilled players in the NHL, actually has solid fight history in his career, dropping the gloves 22 times since his rookie year in 2009, per hockeyfights.com. Wood is only in his third year in the NHL, but he's on a good pace to catch Benn's career total, having already fought eight times, six of those coming in his rookie year as he tried to make his mark on the team. With Benn's Stars down 3-0 in the third period at the Prudential Center, the captain attempted to inspire his team by challenging the scrappy 23-year-old to a fight, and the result was far more entertaining than the McGregor vs. Khabib snoozefest:
Good scrap boys, good scrap. You might not see a better tilt this year, especially judging by the reaction to hit from NHL fans at large.
The most impressive part? Wood was just a few days removed from losing a tooth, which is nothing new for him, as he lost a few last year against these same Dallas Stars. Kudos to him for standing in there, and judging by his fight history and the amount of penalty minutes he continues to rack up, it doesn't seem like he's changing his style of play anytime soon.
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