Could This Heavyweight Tilt Be The NHL's Fight Of The Year?

I don't know if there's a red-blooded sports fan alive who doesn't appreciate a good hockey fight, and boy, oh boy, were we given a doozy on Tuesday night between two of the biggest heavyweight pugilists in the NHL today.

The San Jose Sharks welcomed the Columbus Blue Jackets to town, and both teams really could use these two points.

For Columbus, they're trying to keep up with the rest of the Eastern Conference, which is very tight right now. The last-place Jackets are just six points out of the last wild card spot.

Meanwhile, the Sharks are having a better year than a lot of people expected and are currently fighting for a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Each of these teams also has a world-class fighter on its roster, with Mathieu Olivier for Columbus and Ryan Reaves for the Sharks.

These two met up last season as well in what was heralded as one of the best fights of the 2024-25 season when Reaves was a Toronto Maple Leaf, so the two decided to give us a sequel, and they did it at center ice.

And, man, did they ever deliver.

After that slow start, they really started exchanging some absolute haymakers, with Olivier scoring one early that popped off Reaves' bucket.

Then, once they traded a few rounds of bombs, Olivier landed another big one that destroyed Reaves' rhythm, and that's when he really started feeding him some lunch.

I think I felt the last few punches Olivier landed through my screen. 

But here's what might be the coolest thing, and what makes hockey unlike just about every other sport on the planet. After that monumental Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah-esque clash, check out the way Olivier and Reaves were yukking it up in the penalty box.

The Sharks wound up winning this one 5-2, with a pair of empty-netters helping them get the job done late.