Hate, chaos arrive in Bruins-Panthers, including Pastrnak vs. Tkachuk fight: ‘I’m not afraid of him’

SUNRISE, Fla. — The requests David Pastrnak is accustomed to receiving are for pictures, autographs, sticks and pucks. He is usually happy to oblige.

But in the third period of Game 2 of the Boston Bruins’ second-round series against the Florida Panthers, the Bruins right wing got an unusual invitation.

Matthew Tkachuk asked Pastrnak to fight.

Pastrnak said yes.

“You’re going to see that on the highlights over and over and over again,” Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I think it’s a good thing. You have two elite offensive players. Chucky’s a 100-point guy all day long. Pastrnak’s just this brilliant player. It’s the playoffs. They each have their team. They got their brothers in their room. It’s a little spicy out there. I think it’s awesome. When it was over, they both looked like they were fine. Sorry for whoever is offended by that concept. I don’t care. I thought it was awesome. Like, good on both of them.”

Their fighting cards are not even. On March 29, 2018, Pastrnak recorded his lone career fight against Dan Girardi, partly out of retribution for an illegal hit the right wing delivered previously to the New York Rangers defenseman.

Tkachuk, meanwhile, has his gloves off nearly as often as his mouthguard tangles from his lips. According to HockeyFights, the Florida Panthers rabble-rouser has 20 regular-season scraps to his name.

But at 12:42 of the third period, after Pastrnak gave Tkachuk the green light, the two superstars tangled at center ice. Tkachuk landed the best thump — a right hand that jolted Pastrnak’s helmet off his head.

Pastrnak didn’t mind.

“You are in the game. There’s a lot of emotions,” Pastrnak said when asked why he agreed to go with Tkachuk. “I’m not afraid of him, to be honest. I can take a punch. I’d do anything for these guys here.”

Players like Pastrnak are considered free of bare-knuckle obligations. Pastrnak is paid $11.25 million annually to score overtime goals like he did in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He does his best work with his gloves protecting his golden-goal hands.

But there come times when pride sets in. The Panthers were kicking in the Bruins’ teeth at the time of Tkachuk’s ask. They were laying a 6-1 beating on the Bruins.

Pat Maroon, Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic, James van Riemsdyk, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, five roughnecks who are expected to get down and dirty, were in the dressing room because of 10-minute misconducts. Pastrnak was not above fighting.

It was time for the sports car to get in the mud.

“He was asking me, so I felt like I had to step up as well,” Pastrnak said. “Game was over, 6-1. So we’ll give it a go.”

Pastrnak is left-handed. So he tried to start the fight by setting up his left to throw. But once he missed with his first left-handed punch, Tkachuk grabbed Pastrnak and went to work. Pastrnak went down to his knees. Tkachuk belted him in the face. Tkachuk followed up with several more cuffs after linesmen Scott Cherrey and Ryan Gibbons jumped in. Pastrnak squirmed out of the pile, got to his skates and tried to get in his own shots.

Tkachuk knows how to handle himself in a fight. Conversely, Pastrnak’s inexperience could have gotten him hurt. He didn’t care.

“I’m proud of Pasta,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “There’s so many guys out there, pushing after the whistle when the linesmen are there. Pasta and Tkachuk, they just went out there and fought. That’s what you like. You like your hockey players to be competitors.”

Marchand did not see the fight. He was in the dressing room with Maroon, Brazeau, Frederic and McAvoy. But the captain appreciated how Pastrnak felt the need to answer Tkachuk’s challenge.

“It’s great for him to step up,” Marchand said. “He doesn’t fight often. He’s actually pretty tough. But you don’t want to see a guy like that get hurt. Hopefully he didn’t. When guys go down, they can blow out shoulders and hurt hands. Great job by him stepping up. That’s what he does.”

That the temperature had spiked so hot was no surprise. The Bruins and Panthers don’t like each other. The Panthers rallied from a 3-1 first-round deficit to end the Bruins’ historic run last year. The Bruins won all four regular-season meetings this year, plus Game 1 on Monday.

Add on a head-bashing like the Panthers applied to the Bruins, and it’s no wonder mayhem ignited. When it was 4-1, Maroon struck the first match by getting into it with Nick Cousins.

Thirty-eight seconds later, the entire third line of van Riemsdyk, Frederic and Brazeau was next to go after Sergei Bobrovsky covered the puck.

After Brandon Montour scored the Panthers’ sixth goal, Marchand had seen enough. As Cherrey and Gibbons busted up their tilt, Montour wagged his tongue at Marchand, taunting him for his lick of Ryan Callahan.

“He was just yelling,” Marchand said when asked why he went after Montour. “It’s not a big deal.”

The hate is here. The series is better for it.

(Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today)