Golden Knights' Reaves, Sens' Sabourin drop gloves in one-sided clash

When one of the toughest — if not the toughest — player in the league stares you down before throwing fists, it’s understandable for the fight to end up being slightly one-sided.

In Thursday night’s game between the Senators and Vegas Golden Knights, newcomer Scott Sabourin, representing the visiting Ottawa team, appeared to challenge the legendary Ryan Reaves to a fight before a neutral zone face-off.

Let’s just say it didn’t go well for the rookie.

This was the 66th fight in the NHL for Reaves, while this is the very first for Sabourin. What a way to introduce your ability to drop the gloves. The Knights skater stared the inexperienced Senator down and barely moved while his opponent scattered about, trying to find an angle to attempt the first blow. That was until Sabourin got a little too close, and Reaves was able to bring him right where he wanted him and landed two fists on the side of his helmet.

To be fair, the rookie was able to get in a couple of punches before being thrown down to the ground and pummelled until the linesman intervened. Reaves then did what he’s loved for — showing some personality and getting the fans excited with a small ‘that’s it?’ gesture.

Through his 585 games, the Golden Knights skater has a total of 863 penalty minutes. Comparing that to six total games and 11 PIMs, it was essentially the NHL’s version of David and Goliath.

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