Boasting to your fans after handily winning a fight is a very normal and entertaining thing. Doing it after losing to an undersized depth defenseman doesn’t have the same effect.
In the final minutes of Winnipeg’s 8-4 win over Montreal on Tuesday, Jets center Mark Scheifele was scuffling with Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman and decided to cross that barrier to start a fight.
A completely normal sequence of events within the context of a hockey game, but once the 5-foot-9 Wideman was able to take down the more established forward, the loser in the fight decided to gloat about participating.
Not only is there a significant height advantage for the 6-foot-3 Scheifele, but there is a 40-pound weight difference, making it even more hilarious he puffed his chest out to Winnipeg fans and acted like he just defeated a Goliath of a hockey player.
This was the first time Scheifele has faced the Canadiens since knocking Jake Evans out of the playoffs last season with a brutal hit that sent the Montreal forward off on a stretcher and earned the Jets center a four-game suspension.
“It was a dirty hit, but the league’s going to take care of it. If he gets back in the series, we’re going to make life miserable for him,” Canadiens defenseman Joel Edmundson said at the time.
Ahead of Tuesday’s contest, Scheifele said he would answer the bell if Evans wanted to drop the gloves. For his part, Evans said the feud was put to rest last year when the Canadiens swept the Jets in the second round of the playoffs.
Scheifele’s antics didn’t sit well with those inside the Montreal dressing room, or those outside of it, either. Although some felt he was just making light of the situation.
Josh Anderson made it clear the Canadiens weren’t happy with Mark Scheifele’s antics after the fight with Chris Wideman. “Good thing we play them one more time this year.”
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 2, 2022
Wait…the 5’9 Chris Wideman, who wasn’t even on the team last year, was the one who dropped the gloves with the 6’3 Mark Scheifele? Then Scheifele waves to the crowd? Mount Rushmore of embarrassing moments in Winnipeg history. https://t.co/bfaawhf8Wk
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) March 2, 2022
Is there something in the water in Winnipeg where you celly after losing a fight to a smaller combatant? First Logan Stanley after getting pumped by Simmonds, and now Scheifele? https://t.co/OItXVJN5Fm
— Gil Dougmour (@centrewingdman) March 2, 2022
You’d have to be pretty dumb to not realize Scheifele was kidding around after the “fight” last night.
— Chris Mackling (@cMACKLIVE) March 2, 2022
Habs fans going to keep crying all day about Scheifele sarcastically hyping up the crowd to try to hide the fact they allowed 8 goals to a mediocre Jets team.
— Drew (@only1drewsif) March 2, 2022
Emotions were certainly high in this one, regardless of the bad blood coming in.
In just the first nine minutes and 13 seconds of the first period, Winnipeg was already up 4-0 and considering Montreal is sitting second last in the overall standings, the game appeared to be more or less wrapped up at that point.
But the Canadiens had a different idea, making an incredible mid-game comeback to even the score in the following 15 minutes.
The Canadiens cooled off eventually, as the Jets scored four consecutive goals (all on the power play) to seal the victory. In the middle of it all was Scheifele, who finished with two goals and four points on the night.
Winnipeg remains six points out of the playoffs with a 24-21-9 record. These two teams next face off on April 11.
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