Danila Yurov answered a heavy check from Vincent Trocheck with a slash Tuesday night, and the Wild-Utah game boiled over again.
Trocheck finished his check hard on the young Wild forward. Yurov didn't let it slide.
The slash came right back, and that sequence set off another scrap on a night already packed with them.
Mikhail Sergachev and Matthew Boldy also dropped the gloves in this one, and Michael McCarron had a long scrap of his own.
The clip shows the Utah veteran driving through the Wild forward along the wall, then the stick coming right back the other way.
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There's a real age gap here. Trocheck is 33, while Yurov is 22.
Wild and Utah, first and second in the Central, still have three meetings left
The Wild forward is on a $972,500 deal and has four goals this season.
But he's been held without a point over his last five games.
Trocheck carries a $5,625,000 cap hit, with seven points to show for it.
Here's the thing about that slash. It's exactly what a 22-year-old should do when a veteran tries to set the tone on him in a divisional game.
It's like the new kid at the lunch table refusing to give up his seat. The older guys respect it, even if they'll never say so.
Minnesota came in first in the Central, with Utah right behind in second.
Utah had won its last game in overtime against Tampa Bay. Minnesota had won two straight of its own.
And this was only the first of four meetings between these clubs this season. That's a lot of runway for grudges.
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How do John Hynes and Andre Tourigny keep a lid on this the next time around? Maybe they don't want to.
Both teams are back at it Thursday, Utah in Pittsburgh and Minnesota at home against the Islanders. The next Utah-Wild meeting comes in Minnesota, and nobody in either room will need a reminder.
Was Danila Yurov right to answer Vincent Trocheck with a slash?
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