Referee Gives Game Misconduct to ‘Every Player on the Ice’ After Panthers-Senators Melee
The Panthers and Senators played one of the feistiest games of the season on Monday night, culminating in the ejection of 10 players.
Tensions were high throughout the game, but the cork came off late into the third period when Brady Tkachuk attempted to score just moments after being released from the penalty box.
Ottawa’s star forward got tangled up with Dmitry Kulikov, and in the blink of an eye, gloves were dropped and punches were thrown between the two.
The other players began getting into it as well, resulting in a heated and lengthy on-ice altercation.
After the dust settled, the referee was sorting out discipline for the players when he announced that all 10 skaters had been issued game misconducts for their involvement in the fight.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the game, all 10 skaters were done for the night. Those who received a game misconduct included Ottawa’s Erik Brannstrom, Rourke Chartier, Travis Hamonic, Drake Batherson, and Tkachuk, as well as Florida’s Ryan Lomberg, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kevin Stenlund, Jonah Gadjovich, and Kulikov.
Both teams ended the night with considerably shortened benches, in a game which the Panthers won, 5–0.
Prior to the brawl, Senators forward Zack MacEwan was issued a match penalty after a fight with Matthew Tkachuk. Later, Sam Bennett and Mathieu Joseph were also issued game misconducts, bringing the game’s tally up to 13 ejections.
In total, the Senators had 84 penalty minutes in the game, while the Panthers had 83. Florida head coach Paul Maurice joked postgame that the 167 combined penalty minutes were “mild.”
Senators hit rock bottom with a fight-filled, embarrassing loss to Panthers
Senators showed lack of composure and emotion in rough loss to Panthers
OTTAWA — Matthew Tkachuk has been known to drive opponents a little crazy.
But when Ottawa Senators winger Zack MacEwen elbowed Tkachuk in the head before tackling him and whaling punches at him, it was a whole new level of losing your mind, turning what was a 3-0 deficit at the time into a world of embarrassment at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Tkachuk had hit Ottawa defenceman Travis Hamonic, although he eased up as he backed into him along the boards. MacEwen, who has contributed all of one assist in six games, was given a five-minute major for elbowing to the head and a game misconduct.
From there the meeting of the Tkachuk brothers turned into an ugly sideshow of scrums and fights, leading to 167 penalty minutes, a league high this season.
At 12:38 of the third period, officials took the unusual step of handing every player on the ice a 10-minute misconduct. Referees would have used running time, like in a minor hockey blowout, if they could have. The Senators finished the game with five players left on the bench. Florida had six.
With all that extra space, Florida’s backup goalie Anthony Stolarz took a comfortable spot in the middle of the Panthers bench, looking ready to be sent over the boards to play forward.
When the Senators got booed off the ice following the 5-0 pasting on Monday, it marked a new low on an already difficult season. At 8-9 despite having 13 home games, Ottawa fell to dead last in the Eastern Conference, with 16 points in 17 games.
Senators head coach D.J. Smith fell on his sword after the game, but that wasn’t enough to appease fans pleading for a change on the post-game radio show in Ottawa.
“We weren’t ready to play at the start, and that’s on me,” Smith said. “They come out and outshoot us 9-1 on the first shift. … It took us to the nine-minute mark of the first before we got real competitive. And then five-on-five we were fine, obviously.”
Well, not really. The Panthers outshot the Sens 25-15 at even-strength and scored two even-strength goals to go with three power-play goals. The total shots were 38-20 in favour of Florida.
If this was supposed to be a bounce-back game after Friday’s loss to the Islanders, it was an abject failure.
Smith had said beforehand this was a good time to face Florida as a test for his team. The results are in. Ottawa didn’t measure up in any category, other than penalties committed.
Talk about a nightmarish start — the Senators took two icing calls and then a penalty before the game was a minute and five seconds old. Just 23 seconds into that man advantage, Florida had a one-goal lead off a shot by Sam Reinhart at 1:28 of the first.
Smith blamed himself for putting out the wrong five to start the game. Indeed, defencemen Jacob Bernard Docker and Jakob Chychrun with the Josh Norris line were caught running around and icing the puck at the outset.
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A sound beating.