For better or for worse, big-time scraps are becoming somewhat of a lost art in today's NHL. Not on Thursday night in Chicago, though.
During the second period of the Blackhawks' matchup against the Minnesota Wild, 'Hawks forward John Hayden dropped the gloves with Minnesota's Marcus Foligno. The tale of the tape says it was a pretty even matchup -- Hayden is 6-foot-3, 223 pounds; Foligno is listed at 6-3, 232 -- and the bout was a somewhat long one, but it did not end particularly well for Foligno.
Let's slow that down:
That's the heaviest haymaker you're likely to see for quite some time. Foligno appeared to keep his wits about him afterward, but his face was a little worse for wear.
The aftermath pic.twitter.com/Q3X5PEbhvk
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 13, 2017
He eventually left the game and didn't return, and it's sounding like he could miss some additional time as a result of the fight.
I hear Foligno may have broken facial bone. 20 family members coming in for Nick vs Marcus Sat., Vikings gm Sunday. Has to be disappointing
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 13, 2017
That's obviously a really ugly and dangerous conclusion to a scrap, so it seems likely this will spark up another debate around the hockey community about whether fighting is still worth keeping around.