Evgeni Malkin Earns Lifetime Supply Of Enforcer Cred After His Explanation For Fighting Blake Wheeler Last Night
Granted, this wasn’t exactly the greatest showing from Geno in that tilt. But he had 2 goals and an assist last night which brings him up to a tie for 2nd in the league with 70 points and got him to 4th in the league with 31 goals. Even as a big boy who can hold his own in a scrap, Evgeni Malkin doesn’t have to fight anybody in this league. So why did he fight Blake Wheeler just 4 minutes into this game last night? Well I believe there’s an Aretha Franklin song about it but here’s Geno in his own (broken English) words.
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“Because last game it’s not a great hit against Wheeler and I respect him. He asked me like you want to fight? I respect this guy. He’s like captain of his team. He’s like leadership. I just knew it’s coming and I just ready to fight. It’s not great, my fight, but it’s fine”.
That’s a man who respects the game. He knew this was a shitty hit he had on Wheeler last month.
Malkin isn’t a dirty player but this was a shit stain hit. What we saw was just a guy trying way too hard to make an impact on the game with his body, he got carried away and caught Wheeler up high. Dirty hit but probably not nearly as intentional as it looks. Anyway, they meet up again a month later and Malkin answers the bell by giving Wheeler the fight that he deserves. He’s the captain of the team. Wheeler isn’t just going to let this hit go unpunished. So they get the fight out of the way early in the game and that’s how self policing in the game of hockey goes. That’s why you need to keep fighting in the game. That’s what those calculator bitches don’t understand. If Malkin doesn’t fight Wheeler there to start off the game, then chances are guys like Byfuglien are taking runs at him for the rest of the game trying to get payback. But they dropped the mitts, scrapped away and it’s over with. It’s a beautiful thing.