Slafkovsky Pulls the Hair of Leafs' Marshall Rifai During Fight, Gets Dropped by a Single Punch
Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky and Leafs' Marshall Rifai dropped the gloves on Saturday, with Slafkovsky actually resorting to some hair-pulling before getting dropped.
It was a chippy affair in Montreal on Saturday night after Leafs defenseman Cedric Pare delivered a stiff knee-on-knee hit on Patrik Laine, which took the Habs' new addition out of the game. Laine is likely to miss significant time as a result of the hit.
Even though the hit appeared to be unintentional, tempers flared as the game wore on, leading to a bit of a skirmish between Slafkovsky and Rifai in the second frame. Rifai and Slafkovsky decided to drop the gloves to settle the score, though at one point, Slafkovsky actually reached out and grabbed a fist full of Rifai's hair -- a big no-no in a hockey fight. Rifai repaid the favour by dropping Slafkovsky with a single punch.
Rifai has been a player who has really stood out for the Maple Leafs during training camp, even catching the eye of new Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews. The hard-nosed blueliner is not likely to make the Maple Leafs out of training camp, even with his tremendous showing thus far, largely due to the 3 big defensive additions in Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jani Hakanpaa. However, look for Rifai to be on the short list for a call-up if the Leafs run into any injury issues on the blueline.
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