Adam McQuaid is listed at 6-foot-4, 212 pounds. T.J. Oshie checks in at 5-foot-11, 189 pounds.
Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz spoke the truth when he called their fight Friday night “a little bit of a mismatch.”
Oshie, who came to the Capitals from the St. Louis Blues over the summer and is known far more for his scoring prowess than his fighting skills, surprised everyone when he squared off with McQuaid after the Bruins defenseman took offense to a questionable hit behind the Boston net.
It was the fourth fight of Oshie’s career — one shy of McQuaid’s 2014-15 season total.
“Maybe one of the bad things about not being well-educated about players in the East is you don’t exactly know who fights, who’s heavy, and who’s not,” Oshie told reporters after the Capitals’ 2-1 win, via The Washington Post. “I think he might have been giving me an out there, but my helmet was in my face, and I’m not going to back down. It’s part of the game, and it was kind of fun.”
McQuaid vs. Oshie was one of four fights in a physicality-filled preseason finale for the Bruins, and it certainly was the most unexpected of the bunch. Kevan Miller and Tom Wilson also went at it twice, and Tyler Randell and Liam O’Brien dropped ’em once as the teams combined for 68 penalty minutes.
“McQuaid is one of the tougher guys in the league,” Trotz told reporters. “And T.J., as you can see is quite a good competitor. He’s not going to back down. I don’t like that trade-off.”
Thumbnail photo via Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
