Capitals-Hurricanes game turns into fight night — including one controversial takedown: ‘Dangerous’

As Alex Ovechkin moved closer to NHL history with his 892nd career goal, his Capitals got into multiple brawls in a heated game with the Hurricanes on Wednesday night that included one vicious takedown.

The 5-1 win for Carolina included 142 combined minutes of penalties 122 of which came in the third period including two fights and six misconducts.

Things got really heated in the third period, first with a smidge over seven minutes left in the game when the teams got chippy, sending Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Logan Stankoven of the Hurricanes to the dressing rooms early.

Not two minutes later, another scrap broke out, including an actual fight between Washingtons Brandon Duhaime and Carolinas Tyson Jost, leading to four misconducts.

But the biggest and most polarizing brouhaha took place at the 14:38 mark when the Capitals Connor McMichael who was helmet-less was lifted up and brought down to the ice hard by Jalen Chatfield.

Capitals center Pierre Luc-Dubois said there were a few things that led to the boiling over leading to full-on brawls.

In a game like this, theres frustration, Dubois said, according to the Washington Post .

And then when guys go unpunished for dirty plays, dirty slashings refs, a bit overwhelmed, miss some key, key things that happen.

Then frustration takes over.

Its an emotional sport.

The Chatfield takedown was particularly discussed on social media, with some calling for the NHL Department of Player Safety to review it.

Longtime hockey writer Ken Campbell opined that those types of plays could one day be fatal in a worst-case scenario.

Just a reminder after that Chatfield-McMichael scrap: Somebody is going to die from a head injury sustained in a hockey fight someday, he wrote on X.

Ive been saying it for years now.

Might be 10 years from now, might be tomorrow night.

But it will happen.

Its inevitable.

Really dangerous move by Chatfiel, the account scouting the refs wrote.

Interesting to see if DOPS weighs in.

...

Theyll certainly be taking a look..

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