Wild, Senators fight 8 seconds into game; Matt Dumba decked by Brady Tkachuk
Eight. That's how many seconds ticked off the clock before Minnesota's Brandon Duhaime got into a fight with Ottawa's Austin Watson Thursday night.
Eight is probably generous since they got tangled just seconds after the first puck dropped and a few more seconds passed before the officials blew their whistles.
Who won the fight? It was probably a draw, though Watson did land a nice right hand to Duhaime's midsection that looked like it stung.
That set the tone for the game and it didn't take long before another fight occurred.
Just over five and a half minutes into the opening period, Matt Dumba put a big hit on Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk took offense, so they settled it like adult hockey players and started throwing haymakers.
Dumba whiffed on a left jab and then took two right hands from Tkachuk, one of them knocking him to the ice. It's hard to tell if it was a direct hit or a glancing blow, but Dumba wasn't any worse for wear and there wasn't any blood.
Tkachuk is the brother of Matthew Tkachuk, whom Dumba fought in 2018 and wound up tearing his pectoral muscle during the scuffle.
Minnesota wound up beating the Senators 4-2 with goals from Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman and Freddy Gaudreau. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves and the Wild blocked 25 shots.
The Wild are off Friday before playing Saturday and Sunday in Detroit and Chicago.
Related: Wild extend points streak as Fleury stays hot in Ottawa
