NHL fans outraged after dangerous on-ice body slam goes viral — and unpunished

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While Alexander Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record is the main story during most Capitals games, the Great 8’s chase took a backseat on Wednesday night.

While the Russian sniper did notch his 892nd career goal to sit three away from breaking the record, Washington’s game against Carolina turned into a very heated affair with several brawls breaking out in the Hurricanes eventual 5-1 win.

While the battle between the Metro division rivals was a bit testy for the first two periods, things exploded in the third.

The game included 142 combined penalty minutes with a whopping 122 coming in the third period alone. Refs handed out six misconducts and there were two fights in the frame — one of which ended with a dangerous takedown that went viral on social media and has many fans outraged.

Things began to get heated with just over seven minutes left in the game, when Washington’s Tom Wilson and Carolina’s Logan Stankoven were sent to the dressing rooms early.

Less than two minutes later, another scrum broke out with Washington’s Brandon Duhaime and Carolina’s Tyson Jost dropping the gloves.

But it was the tilt between Capitals forward Connor McMichael and Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield that nearly ended in tragedy.

At the end of their sparring session at the 14:38 mark of the final frame, Chatfield grabbed hold of McMichael — who was helmet-less — twisted him around while tripping him and violently slamming the Capitals forward to the ice.

Longtime hockey writer Ken Campbell posted on X that the sort of takedown seen in the fight could lead to the absolute worst-case scenario.

“Just a reminder after that Chatfield-McMichael scrap: Somebody is going to die from a head injury sustained in a hockey fight someday,” he wrote on X. “I’ve been saying it for years now. Might be 10 years from now, might be tomorrow night. But it will happen. It’s inevitable.”

“I always get so scared when a helmetless guy gets thrown to the ice like that, I’ve heard the sound of a skull smacking on the ground and it’s something that sticks with you,” user devillianOx commented on reddit. “That can literally kill someone, such a dangerous and stupid move.”

“It’s in the heat of the moment but it’s dangerous to swing a guy down without a helmet on. This is what happens when players who don’t fight start fighting,” another user wrote.

“Imagine slamming his actual head into ice with that much force. Can legit kill someone or make them braindead. Disgusting,” a third commenter added.

But while many users called for Chatfield to receive a call from the NHL’s dept. of player safety, NHL insider Frank Seravelli wrote that the Canes defenceman shouldn’t be waiting by the phone.

“Not expecting any supplemental discipline for Canes’ Jalen Chatfield from NHLPlayerSafety for his takedown of Connor McMichael during their fight on Wednesday night,” he posted to X on Thursday morning.

The official social media account for the league’s disciplinary department had not posted anything related to the incident as of Thursday afternoon.

The situation should make for an interesting night next Thursday. The Hurricanes and Capitals will meet for a rematch next week, this time at Washington’s Capital One Arena — where Chatfield should be public enemy No. 1.

“Refs better bring a hot whistle next Thursday then. There’s gonna be a reckoning,” one user commented on Reddit.

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