We had ourselves a good, old-fashioned goalie fight Wednesday night in Buffalo. Well, sort of.
Tempers boiled over during the second period of the Sabres’ game against the Montreal Canadiens, resulting a post-whistle scrum in front of Buffalo goaltender Robin Lehner. Lehner even joined in, trading a punch or two with Canadiens rookie Michael McCarron.
All the while, Montreal goalie Ben Scrivens stood at his own blue line, staring down his Buffalo counterpart but not crossing the neutral zone to engage him.
So, no, the two goalies did not throw down in the traditional sense. But Lehner did send plenty of jabs Scrivens’ way in his postgame media scrum.
“Scrivens had about 30 seconds to come and do something,” Lehner told reporters, as aired on Sportsnet. “He didn’t. He stood up there, and then the ref was there, and it was over. Next year, if he wants to go, I’m right here. … I mean, do something, you know? If you can stand up there and do whatever you want, you’re not going to punch me from over there.”
Scrivens, meanwhile, laughed off the exchange.
“He’s a big boy,” Scrivens told Sportsnet’s David Amber, referring to the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Lehner. “He’s a bit of a psycho, but he’s a good guy, so I guess I might be kind of lucky I didn’t have to go down. But I would have if my teammates needed it.”
The Canadiens didn’t need Scrivens’ fists, but they did need his play in net. The 29-year-old stopped a season-high 41 shots as the Habs won 3-2 in overtime.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
