Throwdown Lowdown – Blues @ Panthers, 02-08-11
Hordichuk is not afraid of the league’s best fighters. Image via Zimbio
As anticipated, there were no fights in the Blues’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, although there were many small skirmishes, all leading to nothing. So the Blues remain at 50 fighting majors on the season, still tops in the National Hockey League. Their fight record remains at 20-15-15.
This is the first meeting between the Blues and the Florida Panthers on the season. You would think that a team struggling to get into postseason contention like the Panthers are would fight just a bit more often than they do, but as it is, these ‘Cats seem to err on the side of caution. Well, that’s no fun to me! The Panthers are second-to-last (for those counting at home, that’s 29th) in the NHL with 10 fighting majors collected on the season. Their fight record is surprisingly not awful for a non-fighting team: 3-4-3.
Darcy Hordichuk (6’1”, 211lbs, 2-2-2) is the undisputed fight leader of this Florida outfit with six fights on the season. Everyone else has fought once each – Shawn Matthias (6’2”, 213lbs, Win, out indefinitely with a broken ankle), Kenndal McArdle (5’11”, 190lbs, Draw, reassigned to Rochester of the AHL back in December), our old friend Dennis Wideman (6’0”, 196lbs, Loss) and Bryan Allen (6’4”, 220lbs, Loss). Steve Bernier (6’2”, 216lbs) was involved in an incident in which the other player (Brent Burns) received a fighting major, a game misconduct and a 2-game suspension, but Bernier was not assessed a fighting major as all he did was take the butt end of Burns’ stick to his face, breaking his orbital bone and causing him to miss time.
Again, much like in Tampa-St. Petersburg on Sunday, it would be hard to imagine a good fight coming out of this game. Heck, Cam Janssen suited up in Sunday’s game but logged just over a minute of ice time as he sees his role on the team diminish to shreds. BJ Crombeen is a good size matchup for Hordichuk, but it’s not likely they’ll see the ice at the same time for the most part. All of the same applies to Allen and Brad Winchester. With that said, I predict no fights in this contest.
So it’s back to the win column tonight, boys. Right? Let’s get this done.
LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!
Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights
