Those were the circumstances entering the matchup between these two Central Division rivals on New Year’s Eve night. Early on, it became very clear that both clubs came into this contest ready to set a certain tone. Like a… “I’m going to beat your face in” kind of tone.

Back-to-Back fights break out between Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators

Before Tuesday night’s Wild vs Predators game was three minutes old, there were already two players from each team in the penalty box. This, after back-to-back fights broke out between the two teams around the 17-minute mark of the first period.

The first brawl was between veteran skate fighter Marcus Foligno and 27-year-old Predators defender, Jeremy Lauzon. Then, as soon as the puck dropped again, Minnesota’s Ben Jones was dropped by 21-year-old rookie Zach L’Heureux before the camera’s could even get re-focused.

It took less than three minutes.
Watch on FanDuel Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/nNHlFIhOgy

— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) January 1, 2025

We still haven't played three minutes of hockey yet.#mnwild #NHL pic.twitter.com/PUFOvpZnoD

— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) January 1, 2025

According to HockeyFights.com, the 33-year-old Foligno celebrated his 100th NHL fight earlier this month (regular season + postseason), when he battled in Vegas against Keegan Kolesar, a fight in which voters said he won 26 votes to 3. I’d say he’ll probably get the nod in his 101st (above) fight too.

Ben Jones might want to take some lessons because whatever happened between he and Zach L’Heureux, but it didn’t end well for Jones, who caught a mean right that knocked him off his skates nearly immediately after the camera finally realized what was going on and shifted its focus to the second fight in the first three minutes of tonight’s game between the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild.

Related: Minnesota Wild Veteran Center Returns to the Lineup

In the second period Tuesday, L’Heureux was kicked out of the game for a brutal major slew footing penalty on Jared Spurgeon, who needed help getting off the ice and down the tunnel to the locker room.

Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton, who just dropped 6’7″ Logan Stanley (Winnipeg) last week, wouldn’t let that happen. The 28-year-old Canadian was thirsty for more violence tonight and found a willing participant in Nashville’s Jeremy Lauzon, who leads the NHL in penalty minutes. Ding. Ding. Ding. Let the haymakers fly.

Jake Middleton Beats Up Jeremy Lauzon

Saw this one coming a mile away. #mnwild #NHL pic.twitter.com/G7RNoBie6d

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) March 1, 2024

Look, a hockey fight is a hockey fight. Much like pizza, sex and video games, a bad fight is better than no fight at all. But this jam session between Middleton and Lauzon wasn’t just a good scrap… it was one for the books, mostly thanks to #5 in the Minnesota Wild sweater.

Related: Wild Sign Top KHL Prospect Marat Khusnutdinov to Help Immediately

Haymaker after haymaker landed and most of them were from Jake’s right hand; unofficially counting at least 13 successfully landed punches to Jeremy’s 2. The Wild defenseman completely dominated the scrap, but the punches he did take landed nicely. All and all, this fight was a solid 8.9/10.

I can’t stop watching… I’m upgrading it to a 9.1.

Related: Wild Score 10 Goals in Huge Win vs NHL’s Best; Kaprizov, Ek Both Pot Hat Tricks

Fast forward more than a month later and nobody was really sure how tonight was going to go. But when the puck dropped on the first period… hockey happened. No fights, no retribution, just hockey. That was, until just over two minutes remained in that initial period.

That’s when Jake Middleton could have killed Jets’ centerman Mark Scheifele, when his skate got caught in the ice right in front of the boards, causing him to trip and start head-first toward serious danger, with Middleton’s momentum pushing him from behind.

Minnesota Wild’s Jake Middleton drops Jets’ Logan Stanley with righty haymaker

At first glance, the hit looks egregious. But when slowed down, you can tell that Middleton hesitates with his hit at the last moment, a slight pause that very well may have saved Scheifele from serious bodily harm.

But again, a lot was happening in a short period of time and Winnipeg ‘enforcer’ Logan Stanley skated over to (politely?) protect his guy. Middleton immediately obliged and we had a scuffle on our hands.

Jake Middleton vs. Logan Stanley pic.twitter.com/bnBhFe8imQ

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 21, 2024

The first thing you noticed when these two started skating closer to each other, was just how big Logan Stanley is. At 6’7″ (without skates) the 25-year-old defenseman towered over Middleton. And when he got ahold of Jake’s #5 Wild jersey, it felt like sure doom was inevitable.

Related: Barring Collapse, Marc-Andre Fleury Has No Interest in ‘Bailing’ on Minnesota Wild

But then, Stanley let his guard down momentarily and Middleton got two or three quick shots in. Just like that, goodnight Irene, and Stanley was falling like a redwood pine. Tiimmmmmberrrrr!!! On the way down, Middleton got Stanley one more time with a righty haymaker.

Remember kids, it’s not always the size of the lion, but the size of the lion’s heart that matters. And on Tuesday night, even as he was getting whipped around by Hagrid from Hogwarts, Jake Middleton found a way to land one lights out blow, which is all it takes if you get them good enough. Unfortunately, the Wild couldn’t pull out a win in Winnipeg, losing 6-3.

Filip Gustavsson notched a shutout in his final warmup before the regular season begins on Thursday. Kirill Kaprizov potted a goal early in the 3rd and Mats Zuccarello notched two impressive assists. Oh, and Ryan Hartman got a postgame contract extension.

Related: Dean Evason Hot Seat Check: 6 Questions for Minnesota Wild Entering 2023-24

Minnesota Wild strong preseason overshadowed by 3rd period chaos

But things started to unravel on the ice, after Marco Rossi’s goal a bit later in the period, when Pat Maroon and Jamie Benn went toe-to-toe on the ensuing face-off.

Too much happening, Rossi pots one home, and Maroon takes on Benn. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/EieOADWHop

— Wild Takes (@WildTakes10k) October 8, 2023

Clearly, the Wild used this preseason game, not only to get their minds right for the regular season, but to exact revenge on a divisional rival who they lost an intense playoff series to last season.

And the crowd at the Xcel Energy Center was no different. When Benn was in the penalty box, after his fight with Maroon, a fan threw popcorn on his head and he lost his mind.

A fan just threw popcorn at Jamie Benn in the penalty box and now he's screaming at the fans. This is turning ugly

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 8, 2023

Brandon Duhaime vs Mason Marchment

If there was any question about their intent entering the final period, Brandon Duhaime put an end to that when he went begging for a fight with Mason Marchment, that he eventually got. When the dust settled on the scrum, Marchment got a 10-minute game misconduct and Duhaime got a 2-5-10 for instigating it.

Brandon Duhaime wants to go with Mason Marchment off the draw. Marchment says no. Duhaime hammers Dellandrea and eventually doesn't give Marchment the choice.

Absolute chaos pic.twitter.com/y0mW9LWWfj

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 8, 2023

Minnesota finishes their preseason 5-1-0 and, as noted earlier, will drop the puck on their regular season, Thursday, when they play the Florida Panthers in St. Paul.

Read all of our Minnesota Wild blogs

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Miracle goal reversal

Well, not quite. For 2.5 periods last night, the Blackhawks were better than the Wild. Chicago carried a 2-1 lead into the 14-minute mark of the third period and, just before that, the game looked all but over when Jonathon Toews scored a 6-on-5 goal while the Hawks played keep-away on a delayed penalty call against the Wild. That made the score 3-1 with just over half a period left to play.

But then, a miracle happened. After further review, it was ruled that John Merrill had gained possession of the puck just before the goal was scored. So instead of a 2-goal lead, the puck was ruled dead at the moment Merrill “got control of the puck” in the crease and Chicago was awarded a power play.

Oh man, I'm not sure about this. Jonathan Toews has a goal taken away after the officials huddle up and felt the Wild had gained possession on a delayed penalty. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/uF9UaUi4Op

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 11, 2023

Foligno starts fight at worst perfect time

The Wild killed the penalty and the game carried on at 2-1. But even while on a power play of their own, Marcus Foligno didn’t see the game turning in the Wild’s favor. Thus, drastic measures needed to be taken. With 7:45 remaining in the game, he challenged Andreas Englund to a fight.

It was a worthy matchup of heavyweights and Foligno took his own fair share of punishment. The blood flowing freely down from his nostrils and into his mouth gave that much away. But Marcus, as he oftentimes does, came away victorious.

And for his efforts, the 12-year veteran proceeded to rip Englund’s helmet off. He shook it up in the air with his right hand and screamed at his own bench, “I’ve got his head!”, with a referee hanging off of his left arm.

Marcus Foligno wins the fight and gets Englund’s helmet as a prize #mnwild pic.twitter.com/noL20oGdxr

— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) April 11, 2023

It was as if, in that moment, Marcus Foligno had gone completely insane. Ripping a helmet off another player is an automatic penalty and his team was on a power play. It could have been their best chance at tying the game before time expired.

But Englund had accused Foligno of a dirty hit earlier in the period and the Wild bruiser and team leader wasn’t going to skip an opportunity to light a fire under his team’s ass. Power play or penalty kill, the Wild clearly needed something to get them going and, if that meant dropping his gloves and putting on his crazy-person face, then that was a price he was more than willing to pay.

Hockey is a funny game…

And you know what… hockey is a funny game. Less than two minutes later, with the Blackhawks on a power play created by Foligno’s psychotic episode, the other Marcus (Johnansson) scored a short-handed goal on a 2-1 Wild breakaway. Tie game.

And Johansson wasn’t done. Less than three minutes later, the trade deadline acquisition took a beautifully placed pass from Matt Boldy and paid off Bill Guerin’s GM chops again, giving the Wild a 3-2 lead that was quickly made 4-2 by a Gustav Nyquist empty-netter.

Jojo shorty S N I P E ????#mnwild pic.twitter.com/Wl2MKGbump

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 11, 2023

GOT OUR MOJO#mnwild pic.twitter.com/n5It127TT8

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 11, 2023

And all of this stemmed from what first appeared to be an immature act by a veteran player, in one of the biggest moments of a semi-important game. Even if you accept professional hockey players fist fighting each other as part of the game, the playoff implications this could have had, should Foligno have gotten hurt are, made it look downright stupid. Until, the Wild scored a shorty to tie the game, then won it right after.

Is Marcus Foligno losing his marbles?

So, is Marcus Foligno going crazy or is his leadership just on a level we can’t possibly comprehend? It’s hard to say, but whatever it is, he’s certainly creating enemies along the way. There’s no way Andreas Englund is buying a Corona for Foligno, should they come across each other in Cancun over the offseason.

The same can be said for Englund’s teammate and fellow defenseman, Connor Murphy, who was absolutely disgraced by Foligno when these two teams played a couple of weeks ago. Most of the time, one testosterone-filled heterosexual male doesn’t do something like this to another testosterone-filled heterosexual male, without serious consequences…

pic.twitter.com/n4zZG8lQGB

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) March 25, 2023

But guess what, hockey is a funny game. I don’t know what has gotten into Marcus Foligno but, in both instances above, the Wild came out victorious. Does that mean anything, given how terrible the Chicago Blackhawks are this season? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Another big game tonight

Until then, maybe we’ll get some more of it tonight when the Wild play against the Winnipeg Jets in game 81 of 82 this season. The Jets are fighting for their playoff lives. Minnesota’s come-from-behind victory last night keeps them two points behind both Colorado and Dallas in the Central Division. The Avs have one game in-hand on both the Wild and Stars.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Wild are playing against the Vegas Golden Knights tonight and with just 5 games remaining for each team, a win could mean the division. And that’s the way this game has been played so far. But there was a moment in the first period when budding superstar Kirill Kaprizov was hit with a dirty check from behind and neither he nor his good friend, Marcus Foligno were having any of that.

If you read this headline and came here hoping to see Kirill Kaprizov body slam someone with a single-leg take down, then you came to the right place. Here are a few different videos of an absolutely intense situation that left noses bloodied and feelings hurt. I love hockey.

Everybody wants in on fight night
pic.twitter.com/gaFYaG75yw

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 6, 2021

I’d die for Kirill Kaprizov and he’d die for me too pic.twitter.com/DjjfT1Mwbr

— Cooper (@CoopCarlson) May 6, 2021

Kirill Kaprizov is a TOUGH customer, don’t mess with the Russian #mnwild pic.twitter.com/9xccR72iB9

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) May 6, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan