Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews isn’t known as much of a fighter. In fact, coming into this season, Toews had only been in three fights throughout his NHL career. But, like any good captain, Toews is willing to do what it takes to stand up for his teammates.
Toews registered his second fight in as many weeks when he dropped the gloves with St. Louis Blues captain David Backes after he was penalized for boarding Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.
The play developed about four minutes into the second period when Hjalmarsson went to retrieve a dump in behind the Blackhawks net. Backes swooped in from the left wing and clearly hit Hjalmarsson from behind—square in the numbers on his jersey—sending him to the ice where he lay for a moment before slowly getting up. The whistle was quickly blown and Toews immediately skated toward Backes and challenged him. Toews did pretty well for himself, even getting Backes’ jersey over his head and landing a couple solid blows before the skirmish was broken up and both players were escorted to the penalty box.
Toews had previously challenged New Jersey Devils forward Adam Henrique on Nov. 6 in a 4-2 loss. This is also the second time that Toews and Backes have squared off, with their first bout coming in 2010.
Hjalmarsson appeared to be okay after the hit and eventually skated to the bench unassisted.
nothing but respect to this guy.