NHL fans get first hockey fight since March in Panthers-Lightning exhibition

An exhibition between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers got chippy on Wednesday, giving NHL fans the first hockey fight since March.

Wednesday’s exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers got chippy when Brian Boyle and Mikhail Sergachev dropped gloves after the whistle. The brawl is a welcome sight for fans who have been deprived of hockey fights since March.

With NHL play resuming on August 1, fans should expect to see more of the same in the coming weeks. While Boyle and Sergachev were quickly broken up, there were plenty of sticks swung and punches thrown.

Boyle and Sergachev appeared a bit rusty, with the fight seemingly moving slowly. However, for fans, the resumption of hockey fights, and games for that matter, is somewhat of a return to normalcy.

The NHL, like other leagues, will play without fans in a few hub cities, and the league’s coronavirus plan appears to be working. The league reported zero positive tests after testing over 4,000 players recently, an encouraging figure which suggests that the playoffs will go well if players stick to protocols.

The league plans to begin the playoffs in a 24-team format immediately, with the top four teams in each conference playing a round robin to determine seeding while the others play a best-of-five first round series.

With the delayed timeline due to the pandemic, it could be a while before the NHL’s season completely returns to normal, but the resumption of fights will make fans forget all of that for now. Exciting playoff matchups still loom, and dedicated viewers certainly hope that the rest of the league brings the same energy as Boyle and Sergachev.