Ilya Kovalchuk has had an underwhelming year thus far, blatantly disobeying his coach by staying on the ice longer than he should, and failing to live up to his lofty contract but that didn't stop him from stepping up for his teammate Saturday after Zac Rinaldo gave Zach Parise an after-the-whistle slew-foot. The two teams exchanged some hugs before Kovalchuk jumped in and decided to drop the gloves with Brayden Schenn. Neither player fights very often but despite having just nine career fights Kovalchuk landed a right hand that would have brought even the toughest of hockey's pugilists to their knees.
Can you imagine if Ilya broke his hand on this punch though? The uproar would have been amazing. Any player who can knock out a Flyer has done enough to make me a fan. Plus, nobody likes Zac Rinaldo.
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