It only took seven seconds for tensions to boil over between the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes.
Their first meeting since Jan. 3 saw back-to-back tilts before the crowd had time to settle into their seats. Right off the draw, Ryan Lomberg and Jack McBain dropped the gloves, then moments later, it was Jonah Gadjovich and Liam O’Brien.
The two teams were jawing at each other during warmups, the animosity dating back to their previous meeting when Coyotes forward Jason Zucker received a three-game suspension for boarding Nick Cousins, which resulted in Cousins entering concussion protocol.
“We have a couple savages who started it off for us with two great fights for us in the first period, the first few seconds, and that really set the tone for us tonight,” Panthers captain Matthew Tkachuk told Bally Sports Florida after his team’s 6-2 win.
Zucker’s incident was preceded by Cousins laying a questionable hit on Coyotes defenceman Juuso Valimaki for which he was not penalized. Zucker took exception and went after Cousins with a hit from behind. He was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct on the play, but not before answering the bell himself as Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling challenged him.
Neither Cousins nor Zucker were involved in the early-game extracurriculars.
“It was handled pretty right,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “That stuff happens and then more importantly, our game was really good. That’s the key to that.”
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny, meanwhile, wasn’t nearly as impressed with how his team handled things.
“I think there were a lot of distractions. But when you’re focused and you’re on, there’s nothing that will disturb you … Tonight our focus was not as tuned in,” Tourigny said.
