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Adam McQuaid, Matt Martin trade massive blows in great fight (Video)

Greg Wyshynski

Matt Martin was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs to throw his body around and to raise his fists if someone took liberties with any of the team’s young offensive stars.

On Saturday night, Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid thumped Auston Matthews with a check in the Leafs’ attacking zone.

At the next whistle, Martin skated over to him at center ice and earned his paycheck, engaging in one of the season’s most entertaining and painful brawls:

Martin returned to the dressing room to get that ear stitched up.

McQuaid obviously knew he was going to have to answer for his completely legal hit, engaging with Martin the moment he hit the ice. Tradition was followed, and the Boston natives seemed to enjoy it.

OK, we know what you’re asking: What did this fight sound like in Punjabi? Glad you asked:

It was McQuaid’s fourth fight of the season. It was Martin’s 11th fight of the season, third most in the NHL.

After hitting a record low last season, fighting in the NHL is on a slight uptick in 2016-17. Our completely unscientific theory would be that teams dragging ass thanks to the condensed schedule are looking for a fight to energize them, but again, that’s a theory we may have literally invented while writing this post because in fact we did.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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