Washington Capitals forward Brandon Duhaime wasted no time making his intentions known in Thursday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Just six minutes into the first period, Duhaime dropped the gloves with Jalen Chatfield in a highly anticipated fight that served as direct retaliation for Chatfield’s controversial—and unpunished—takedown of Connor McMichael on April 2.
Duhaime squared up with the Hurricanes defenseman and unloaded a barrage of punches, sending Chatfield to the ice and drawing stick taps from the Capitals bench and approval from the home crowd.
The bout was clearly in response to what happened last week, when Chatfield slammed a helmet-less McMichael to the ice in the third period of a heated game that saw 122 penalty minutes issued in the third period alone and 142 overall.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery didn’t hide his disapproval of Chatfield’s move at the time.
“If you’re asking me about the play, I don’t like it,” Carbery said. “When helmets are off, you just have to be careful.”
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour came to Chatfield’s defense earlier this week.
“The media’s the one that made drama out of it, and they’re morons, typically,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a takedown, I’m sorry. Quit making something out of what isn’t.”
Despite Brind’Amour’s dismissal, the Capitals felt the incident warranted a response, and Duhaime delivered it early on Thursday.
The game itself could have been a preview of an upcoming postseason matchup, with the Hurricanes jumping out to a 2–0 lead and the Capitals surging back with four unanswered goals to ultimately get the win.
Carolina tied the game with less than two minutes left in regulation, but Washington edged the Canes in the shootout, with forward Pierre-Luc Dubois scoring the lone shot of all six taken.
The shootout win helped Washington clinch first place in the Eastern Conference after reaching 109 points in 78 games played with a 50-19-9 record.
With both teams having already secured postseason berths, and as things stand, if they both win their respective first-round series, they’ll meet again in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
