Jake McCabe and Brayden Schenn dropped the gloves early in the first period and it wasn’t McCabe’s wisest decision.
Less than five minutes into the first period of Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, McCabe and Schenn dropped the gloves right off a faceoff in the Leafs’ zone. It wasn’t entirely clear what had occurred to spark the conflict, but it was a pre-arranged fight as the two immediately shed their gloves when play resumed.
Unfortunately for McCabe, it was a one-sided fight as Schenn was able to get a jump on him and forced McCabe against the boards. Schenn ultimately sent McCabe to the ice with the Leafs defenseman appearing to hit his head on the boards before catching one final shot from Schenn. Thankfully, neither combatant looked worse for wear as they sat in their respective penalty boxes for five minutes. The fight appeared to spark the Leafs more than the Blues as, just two minutes later, Mitch Marner scored to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
It was a bit of a mismatch for McCabe as he doesn’t fight nearly as much as Schenn does, and it showed. Still, nobody doubts that McCabe is a tough customer, and if the fight was a reaction to something that happened that impacted a teammate, I’m sure they appreciated McCabe attempting to rectify the situation, even if the tilt did not swing in his favour.
After an embarrassing loss last week when the Blues visited Toronto, the Leafs are looking to win their third in a row and get some revenge for Craig Berube as he returns to St. Louis for the first time since being fired.
