“Sneaky Good Fighter”: NHL Community Hails Wild Star Following His Crazy Brawl Win

Mid-game fights between two opposition players in NHL aren’t really a rare occurrence. In yet another such instance, a brutal fight broke out between a defenseman and a winger during a game between the Minnesota Wild and the Tampa Bay Lightning that started at midnight. The Wilds were playing at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s home stadium, Amalie Arena, and about sometime into the game, the fight ensued. Safe to say, fans went crazy in showing their support for the away defenseman, over the homeboy winger of Tampa Bay.

As per the video, The Wild’s defenseman and the Lightning’s winger were taking a swing at each other for about 25 seconds. In the end, the fight was broken after one of them fell to the rink.

Fans show their clear support for Jake Middleton during an NHL game fight

Jake Middleton of Minnesota Wild vs Nick Paul of Tampa Bay Lightning – No, this wasn’t a solo match. But halfway into the first round of the Wild vs Lightning game, these two hockey players decided to have their own little punching contest. In the Facebook video, we see Middleton drop his gloves into the ice and charge toward Paul. It was like a UFC battle in the middle of the Ice Hockey arena. The fight was over after a short while, and both took a breather by the bench. But it was enough to intrigue the fans all around. Here’s how some of them reacted.

“Jakes a sneaky good fighter. You go watch his fights he wins nearly all of them.”

“yeah he fights washed up/old dudes. i’d probably be sneaky too.”

“Nice tilt Jake!!!!!”

“The win Middleton way to go Jake.”

“Decent rumble. Middleton for the win.”

“Love Middleton! Every time he’s on I always yell out “little in the Middleton but you got much back”.

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While both of them were swinging, it was Middleton’s last blow that fell Paul to the ice. Almost all reactionary comments were indicative of how impressive Middleton fought but at least one called him out for fighting older men than him.

Both Middleton and Paul were previously part of fights in an NHL game

This isn’t the first time Middleton got into a fight in the rink. In April last year, when the Minnesota Wilds were playing against the Nashville Predators, Michael McCarron deliberately pushed Middleton near the Goalpost, and in no time a fight broke out. Both of them threw their gloves and stick on the ice and started going fist-on-face with each other.

Nick Paul was also not a newbie to fights on the rink. Around the same time in April last year, he too got into a fight, but with Jamie Benn from the Dallas Stars. This one lasted a bit longer but in the end, it was Paul who fell that time as well.

NHL fights have been a common occurrence, including one of the most brutal ones during a Boston Bruins vs New York Rangers in 1979. After the Middleton and Paul fight was over, the game proceeded between the two teams and Lightning eventually beat Wilds 4-2.

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