00:02Arguably the best thing to happen in a game for the Rangers all season
00:06happened on Tuesday against the Devils.
00:09An absolute epic goalie fight between Igor Shisterkin and Jacob Markstrom.
00:15I mean, Brian, what was going through your mind when you watched that go down?
00:21It's cheaper than therapy.
00:23You know?
00:24You know, sometimes, look, it is, I can't, I don't know what it's like just to play,
00:32especially as a veteran group.
00:35There's enough veteran guys there with deals that are extended beyond this season.
00:40I don't know what it's like to have that situation where you're just kind of stuck.
00:44You're not playing for the playoffs, thankfully.
00:48I would assume I would probably handle it similarly.
00:52It's kind of awesome.
00:53It's kind of sick.
00:55I love it.
00:56I love when melees happen and there's like the still shot photo of Dougie Hamilton
01:03and Vince Trocek just like.
01:07Living for it.
01:08I mean, yeah, it's theater.
01:10It's entertainment.
01:12It's all those games this year where they couldn't score a goal.
01:16And it was, you know, I'm obviously my eyes looking at the game are different
01:20than a lot of the fans because I'm like, this is good structure and defense
01:24and good transit.
01:26They just couldn't put it in the net.
01:27People are like, we want goals.
01:28Just spent $350 on a ticket.
01:29I want a goal.
01:31Fair.
01:32You know, I think you got your money's worth in that game.
01:35Oh, yeah.
01:36And the Hudson River rivalry.
01:38And Markstrom is a big dude.
01:40He has got long arms.
01:41He's 6'6".
01:42And Igor is rushing.
01:46And he just, he was just throwing bombs.
01:50Yeah.
01:51He's throwing bombs.
01:52Love it.
01:53Yeah.
01:54Goalie fights are weird.
01:55All that gear.
01:56Like, I don't know how you.
01:57Yeah.
01:58I saw someone pointed out that the calmness with which Igor took off his gloves
02:04was just, you knew that he was about to unleash a whole year's worth of frustration
02:10that he's had playing behind these guys.
02:12So, I think we saw, I mean, us in the press box.
02:15I mean, I stood up immediately.
02:17I was like, no way.
02:19No way.
02:19No way.
02:20I saw Markstrom coming down.
02:23And he was so great after the win.
02:25Igor, I mean, he thanked his boxing coach.
02:29Said he thought the first fight would be with Sorokin and he'll have to wait for him.
02:34You mentioned how big Markstrom is.
02:36Well, so did Igor.
02:37He said what was going through his mind when he was skating down the ice was how huge he
02:42is, is the way that he described it.
02:44And in Milan, I also just, you know, interviewing him after practices and games and stuff.
02:50He is a towering, towering man.
02:54So, Igor really held his own.
02:56And as I, I wrote in my article that if a hand were to be raised in true MMA style,
03:04it
03:04would have been Shesterkins.
03:05And then Gavrikov in the post-game Broadway hat picture had Igor's hand up like this in
03:11the picture.
03:12So, it was a lot of fun.
03:14I mean, the whole locker room was fired up by JT, especially.
03:18You saw JT go after you were just smacking him on the chest.
03:22So, I think that the whole room needed something like that.
03:26Not only just in a regular game this season, but at home, I think it meant a lot for them
03:32to really put on a show like that to the fans, which they haven't really been able to do much
03:38this season.
03:39But, I mean, the fact that this was the third goalie fight in the league this season, after
03:45there hadn't been one since, what, 2020?
03:48Well, they were.
03:49I just.
03:50Weren't they, like, they kept breaking them up?
03:54Because I remember Flower was like, Flower was like in the media being like, I need a
03:59goalie fight.
04:00Like, I've, you know, I've done all these other things.
04:03I have to have a fight.
04:05And he tried, like, several times.
04:07He tried to fight Bennington.
04:08He's tried to fight a bunch of different guys.
04:09And the refs always came in and were like, no.
04:14And there's like, there's audio of Marc-Andre Fleury being like, come on, come on.
04:17Just let me do it once.
04:19And they're like, we can't.
04:21So there must have been something brought down.
04:23And then I think realized maybe the backlash or the reaction that they get.
04:28It's unbelievable.
04:29Like, the Vassie coming down and switching to lefts or being a lefty.
04:35And who was that, Swayman?
04:37Yep.
04:38Yeah, he knocks out Swayman.
04:40Swayman's like, I did not know that he was a lefty.
04:42I do now.
04:46But no one leaves.
04:49Nobody gets up and leaves.
04:50And look, it's not fun.
04:54A lot of times it's not fun to fight.
04:56Like, when you're done the fight, your adrenaline and the emotion that comes out of you is because, like, there's
05:02a certain survivor mode in there, especially when you're locked in.
05:05And you know if you turn the wrong way, you could get cleaned out and you could be waking up
05:11somewhere else other than in your gear on the ice.
05:14There's scary parts to it, for sure.
05:17I think MMA and the UFC, as far as I know, is making a lot of money.
05:25I think the NHL right now is the most entertaining it's ever been.
05:32It's on the ups.
05:33Coverage.
05:34For sure.
05:35What Molly does every day.
05:36You know, you're finding different ways to make.
05:38I'm serious.
05:39Like, but the fighting still has to be there.
05:42It doesn't have to be the centerpiece.
05:44It doesn't have to be the main course.
05:45But those organic, like, melees between two teams that had high aspirations and it's just not gone right for them
05:53to just air it out at MSG, it was unbelievable.
05:57It was unbelievable.
05:58Yeah.
05:59No, 100%.
06:00I mean, that was going to be my next question for you, honestly.
06:03You just already answered it.
06:04But it is so good for the game.
06:08Obviously, the Department of Player Safety has been in the news a lot recently.
06:13And, you know, with all the headshots and things like that, there still needs to be something done in that
06:19realm, I think.
06:21But fighting in the National Hockey League is what makes it different from every other sport, I think.
06:28It is an X factor for it.
06:30And it just is an entertainment value.
06:32And, you know, that's what the league is here to do is sell tickets and, you know, broadcast games.
06:38And that's a huge part of it and getting eyeballs on the sport and two goalies underneath all that padding,
06:46getting so angry that they're going to skate the length of the ice just to get in on the action.
06:51I mean, it's always going to sell tickets no matter what.
06:55For sure.
06:56I mean, for sure.
06:57And, look, again, it is â it's not what it used to be.
07:00And thank God, because I came into the league â I remember being like â I would play two minutes
07:06a game in the preseason.
07:07I played every preseason game in L.A.
07:09And I'm like, what did I do wrong in 2007?
07:13And the coach never really told me.
07:15And he's like, you have to go and fight someone.
07:18And, look, I had almost, I think, 50 pro fights.
07:23And I was not a fighter.
07:25But you had to fight more.
07:26In the American League, you had to fight more.
07:28And my fights were quick because the only fights I did well in, in terms of what you would see
07:32on a scorecard, were ones that I was pissed off.
07:35Really, really angry.
07:37And Bobby Orr told me, he's like, don't fight unless you're mad.
07:39Well, there were times I had to because that's what the coaches were saying.
07:42You have to go and â and it wasn't for any reason.
07:45It was because we were down two goals.
07:46I didn't understand that part.
07:47Do something.
07:48Yeah, I'll go run someone.
07:50And then I want to get the puck and try to change the momentum that way.
07:52I wasn't allowed to look at anyone in high school or college, never mind fight them.
07:57I think we've been tossed in a second.
07:59But it's â when you need to level the playing field, I think it's a great tool.
08:06I think guys like â and we've seen â and unfortunately, he got hurt.
08:10But like Sam Carrick in Buffalo, he was immediately embraced by his teammates.
08:15And look what Buffalo's doing.
08:16He got hurt in his last fight, which looked scary.
08:18And I hope he's okay.
08:19I don't want to see anybody get hurt.
08:20I certainly don't like seeing guys get knocked out.
08:23But the thing that I think you should come down on the most is like the A.J.
08:27Greer hit on Zeri.
08:28Yeah.
08:29I get people are upset with Gudis.
08:32I think Gudis got what he deserved.
08:34That's fine when we're talking player safety.
08:37The hit from behind, like four feet away from the boards, should be like â you should set the standard
08:44then.
08:45Like three games.
08:46I learned that when I was seven years old.
08:49We started hitting at seven.
08:50And like you see numbers.
08:52You don't hit them.
08:53You can get paralyzed.
08:54Like what are we doing?
08:56So that stuff, like if you're going to look at a guy right in his eyes and you're going to
09:00throw fists until somebody goes down and then you're going to stop and just have respect for that guy and
09:04he has respect for you, that's so unique.
09:06Yeah, and like I've talked â I've trained in the summer with a lot of the Patriots guys, there's baseball
09:10guys in there and the football, and they're all asking like how are you guys allowed to do this?
09:15Yeah.
09:15And I honestly think it's the understanding and respect you have, even though you hate that guy for a minute,
09:20there's a respect there.
09:22And the hits from behind is where that respect goes out the window and that â you need to crack
09:27down on that.
09:58Real talk, real fans, real flushing baseball â this is Straight Outta Flushing.
Comments