Foligno and Kulikov throw down in light heavyweight tilt.

Two big boys throw down.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Foligno and Kulikov throw down in light heavyweight tilt.

Teams in the National Hockey League are running out of game on the schedule for the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season and the final few games of the season are really starting to take on a very playoff like atmosphere.

One such game was the Sunday night match up between the Winnipeg Jets and the Columbus Blue Jackets and when you consider the implications for both teams in this match up it's no surprise that both sides really wanted the 2 points. The Jets are jockeying for position in the central division as they continue to fend off the Nashville Predators while the Blue Jackets remain outside the playoff picture, in spite of some of the giant moves they made prior to the 2019 NHL trade deadline, and desperately needed the points to make up ground.

Keeping that in mind it should come as relatively little surprise that given all those factors adding to the tension of this game that things got nasty less than halfway through the contest. This time around it was 2 light heavyweight players that decided to square off when Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dmitri Kulikov who decided to trade blows. 

It was Kulikov who initiated the challenge to Foligno after the Blue Jackets' captain delivered a big hit to Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele, a hit that appeared to catch more leg than it did body. Scheifele went down hard on the ice and was clutching at his leg on the way down which prompted Kulikov to come over and challenge Foligno. To his credit Foligno appeared to want the fight with Kulikov but was also talking to the man as if he was giving him a chance to change his mind and back out.

To Kulikov's credit however he came to the defense of his teammate and began to throw down with Foligno, although the Blue Jackets captain appeared to get the better of those exchanges. Foligno had a handful of Kulikov's jersey and by far had the superior leverage in the fight which really limited Kulikov's ability to deliver offense. However as the NHL officials on the ice began to step in Kulikov threw a flurry of punches to Foligno's face and Foligno was sure to let the officials know after the fact that he was not too happy with how that was handled.

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