During the first period of the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers, Michael Latta and Marcel Goc got into a fight.
Analysis: Michael Latta is the clear winner of this fight. I respect Marcel Goc for standing up for his teammate Tomas Fleischmann, who got elbowed by Michael Latta, though it didn’t seem to be intentional to me. Still, when you see a teammate get elbowed like that, sometimes you’ve got to stand up for your teammate and try to make a statement. I think this fight highlights one huge issue that I have with fighting- why is it an extra penalty if you take off your own helmet? It’s silly that your opponent can rip off your helmet, but you can’t take off your own. Goc got an instigator and a game misconduct for this fight, while Latta got an extra minor for elbowing. This was a good clean fight, even if it was pretty one-sided.