Boston Bruins: Zdeno Chara dukes it out in heavyweight throw-down

Years were rolled back on Wednesday night as Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara duked it out in a true heavyweight showdown with the Capitals’ Tom Wilson.

This fight properly felt like we were watching an mid-2000s NHL match-up, not because Chara was involved but just because of the two big bodies going at it. Zdeno Chara hasn’t fought someone the size of Tom Wilson for quite some time, but was more than willing to do so to hopefully prevent his Boston Bruins teammates drawing the ire of the Capitals winger.

The fight itself started after Zdeno Chara took exception to a cross-check from Wilson, which itself didn’t go unnoticed by officials. As well as copping a 5-minute major for fighting, Wilson was adjudged a 2-minute minor (served by Brendan Leipsic) for the cross-check while Chara only sat for 5.

Compared to fights of yesteryear, neither party seemed to come off too bad. There wasn’t blood on the ice nor did either land any sort of knock-out blow. Perhaps, the best sight was that neither man lost his helmet.

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Whereas once upon a time, it was gloves down, helmets off; players have taken heed of the warnings around concussions. While it’s still very possible to suffer a blow leading to a concussion whilst wearing a helmet, it’s much easier when you remove that protection to hit the ice hard or cop a punch that impacts your head in a harsh way.

Fighting though still remains part of the game and this throw-down was a reminder of that. The officials allowed the players to do their piece, no truly brutal shots were landed and we moved on with the puck action.

When you look at this, it was weak so far as a hockey fight goes; despite their size, neither player lands so much as a clean punch and their extended reaches, both being tall guys, don’t lead to anything more than the usual tussling ending up in a pile on the ice.

In fact, there was barely even a verbal battle between the Boston Bruins’ Zdeno Chara and Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson as they were chaperoned to their respective penalty boxes. You barely even saw a whisper between the two benches.

More than anything, this felt like it was a preventative measure for the Boston Bruins. Zdeno Chara stepped up like a captain to send a message that his guys weren’t about to be bullied, not least by Tom Wilson, who has gained quite the reputation for stirring people up.

It’s nice to see that this part of Boston Bruins’ hockey isn’t fully dead, but equally it’s nice to see it’s only a tactic that has to be resorted to on rare occasions. I don’t think anyone wants us going back to where we once were with fighting.