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Top 5 Canucks fights of the 2024-2025 season: #1 – Conor Garland vs. Erik Haula

Originally posted on Canucksarmy | By Tyson Cole | Last updated Jul 28, 2025 3:00 PM ET

Welcome to our top 5 Vancouver Canucks fights of the 2024-2025 season. With our friends from HockeyFights.com, at #1, we have the fight between Conor Garland and Erik Haula.

In Game 9, the Canucks welcomed the New Jersey Devils to town. However, Canucks fans would probably like to forget about this game altogether.

Vancouver couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, as Devils Captain Nico Hischier buried the two-on-one opportunity to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead, not even one minute into the game. The first period wouldn’t get much more exciting after that, as neither team would light the lamp, and the shots finished 7-5 in the Canucks favour.

The beginning of periods just wasn’t for the Canucks in this game. After a late first period penalty, the Canucks started the first 1:55 on the power play. However, it was the Devils who converted, as Dawson Mercer doubled the Devils’ lead shorthanded. And less than two minutes later, Timo Meier put New Jersey up by three.

Taking matters into his own hands, Conor Garland decided it was time to give his team a spark.

Garland switched positions off the defensive zone draw and immediately started barking at Erik Haula. With a clear size advantage, Haula did not back down.

Haula used the boards to his advantage and pinned Garland against the wall, and started throwing punches. Garland did his best to fight back, but often found himself ducking out of the way, never setting himself up in a prime position to attack.

The Canucks forward tried to gain positioning by skating forward away from the boards, but was met with Haula’s fists right away. After taking some punches, Garland found his opportunity and connected with a few punches of his own. After a few punchless seconds, Garland got his arm free and fed Haula with an uppercut and a right hook before getting thrown to the ice.

Despite his fiestiness, fighting isn’t typically a part of Garland’s game. While he may not have won the fight, most Canucks fans rallied behind Garland for his efforts and willingness to do whatever it takes to spark his teammates and start a comeback.

However, that’s not how the game would go. The Devils scored under five minutes after Garland’s fight, and added two more in the third period as the Canucks dropped the contest 6-0.

HockeyFights voters gave this fight a 6.4/10 and sided with Haula, earning 88% of the 42 votes. Garland received just 2%, while 10% of voters believed the fight was a draw.

Our previously ranked top 5 fights of the Canucks season:

#5 – Dakota Joshua vs. Brady Tkachuk
#4 – JT Miller vs. Anthony Mantha
#3 – Dakota Joshua vs. Michael McCarron
#2 – Elias Pettersson vs. Logan O’Connor

What would you rank this fight out of 10, Canucks fans?

This article first appeared on Canucksarmy and was syndicated with permission.

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