The NHL referees let the game get away from them.
Rick Bowness did not appreciate Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason’s decision. AOP / USA TODAY SPORTS
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The game between the Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets got a little out of hand.
Especially in the final set of the match, emotions ran hot all the way to the bench.
First, Wild Ryan Hartman tackled Nikolaj Ehlers without the puck after his pass in the middle area. Ehlers didn’t know how to wait for the tackle at all and had to leave the game in the middle of the match as a result.
Ehlers stayed on the ice for a moment, then held his head as he skated to the bench.
Jets head coach Rick Bowness could not say after the game how badly Ehlers was injured.
– He was in a vulnerable position and I hate to see tackles like that, Bowness said Winnipeg Sun by.
At the end of the game, emotions really heated up again when Jets defender Neal Pionk hit the Wild Marcus Johansson with a cross stick to those who are on the side. Johansson was left on the surface of the ice, looking very pained.
– It was a cheap trick, Wild head coach Dean Evason commented on Pionki’s performance in the match after.
The story continues after the picture.
On the next exchange, the Jets’ Brenden Dillon tackled Hartman in front of the goal. Both first beat each other with clubs, after which they fought each other with fists.
Although the Wild played with the upper hand after the fight, Evason put his quad chain on the ice to protect his star players.
Jets head coach Bowness did not like Evason’s decision at all and raged in the direction of Wild’s bench right after the game resumed.
– That’s fucking bullshit, NHL reporter Bowness roared at Evason Michael Russo by.
Wild’s Ryan Reaves immediately took on the Jets with fists by Adam Lowry with after starting.
Bowness was yelling at Evason all this time and when the fight on the ice was over, Bowness most obviously even challenged Evason to a fight.
However, the Wild commander’s reaction was blunt. He rolled his shoulders and motioned for Bowness to come over to him.
“It doesn’t make sense”
After the game, Evason did not appreciate the actions of the Jets players on the ice.
– We want to play hard in the right way, but we don’t want to play like that. It was stupid at the end. What was it for? Play hard and if you want to fight, then fight, but cheap stuff like that is wrong.
Bowness didn’t like Evason putting a quad chain on his player at the end of the game.
– If you attack one of us, you attack all of us. The players knew what was going on and saw what the opposing coach was doing and responded to it, Bowness said.
– At the moment, when there is only one game left before the playoffs, one of them (star players) could be out. It’s frustrating for sure, but if you want to fight, drop the gloves and fight, but cheap bullshit is not a good thing, Evason defended.
The Jets secured their playoff spot with a 3–1 win. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, on the other hand, accused the Wild players of ugly tricks.
– They started playing really ugly, I don’t know why. We played hard, maybe they just played hard too. But it was getting a bit unnecessary, I think the referees let the match get out of hand.
Dean Evason accused Jets players of ugly tricks. AOP / USA TODAY SPORTS