During last night's match up between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning, Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves engaged with Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot where Reaves knocked him out of the game with one big right-handed punch.
The Maple Leafs were down and out in the third period as they were losing the game 3-1. In typical Reaves fashion, he wanted to get his team motivated in back in the game so he chose to drop his gloves and take on Jeannot.
Both players were sizing each other up quite quickly and began to throw quick jabs against one another but the fight did not last long as Reaves gained the upper hand and dropped one bomb of the right hand into Jeannot's head which made him drop to the ice within a few seconds.
During an interview with Mark Masters after the game, Reaves quickly pointed out that he didn't think a fight was going to happen however, he felt it was necessary as the team needed some energy.
"I didn't really think it was a time to fight, but he asked me & you look at the situation in the game, I thought, you know, if we're going to go, draw some energy for the boys. Yeah. That was that."
It's been an interesting here for Reaves as the Maple Leafs played some cap games to fit certain players into their roster. Reaves at one point was an injury reserve and was even being considered for waivers as the team tried to fit their jigsaw puzzle of a roster together. In the new year, Reaves looks like a different player and he is getting ready for the playoffs well helping out his teammates. THN
It was quick to point out from the Sportsnet broadcast that Jeannot had left to go to the dressing room for concussion protocol.
