Zdeno Chara Lands Big Punches In Two Scraps With Cedric Paquette (Video)

BOSTON — The Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning met for the first time this season Tuesday night and it didn’t take long for the Atlantic Division clubs to ratchet up the intensity.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara boarded Lightning defenseman Matt Carle at 4:03 of the third period. As the B’s defenseman was beginning his skate to the penalty box, Lightning center Cedric Paquette got in Chara’s way and the two began to exchange cross checks. Chara’s final jab sent Paquette to the ice and earned him a total of six penalty minutes (two for boarding Carle, four for roughing Paquette).

“They were battling,” Chara said when asked if he thought the Lightning were trying to make a statement physically. “They have a good team. They didn’t have a good game (Monday night). They were battling really hard and so did we.”

Paquette and Chara were involved in another scrum with just over a second remaining in regulation. Both players received double minors for roughing. At the end of it, Paquette seemed to realize that engaging Chara again was a bad idea.

Here’s a look at the third period penalty summary.

“I don’t know what that kid was thinking, you don’t mess with Z,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said with a smile when asked about Paquette engaging with Chara on two occasions.

“There’s some guys where you can push them and they’ll just kind of let it go. But if you’re going to challenge Z, then you’re going to have to deal with the consequences. (Paquette) took a pretty hard punch there the first time, and then he went back at him. He must have forgot we play them three more times. Hopefully he’s been sent down by then, for his sake.”

GIF via Twitter/@CrzyCanucklehed
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images