The Stars apparently saved their fight Thursday night for when play had stopped.
During a lackluster 4-0 defeat to the Jets in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series, Dallas captain Jamie Benn delivered a sucker punch to Winnipeg center Mark Scheifele during the third period, with his team down by three goals.
Benn and Jets winger Brandon Tanev were each penalized with two minutes for roughing and 10 minutes for misconduct due to their involvement in the altercation, while Scheifele was penalized with two minutes for roughing.
The brouhaha started during a line change with roughly 6:30 remaining and the Jets nursing a 3-0 lead.
The TNT broadcast displayed Benn standing over Scheifele near the Dallas bench as a referee attempted to intervene in the scuffle, with Tanev subsequently grabbing Benn from behind.
Tanev grabbed Benn around his head and pulled him back, which resulted in Benn hitting the ice.
Players from both teams then came over, with two players even tangling it up a bit on the side, before Benn continued the issue with Scheifele.
While a referee tried to push Scheifele away, Benn decked him and the Jets star hit the ice. The referee also tumbled to the cold surface.
“Oh, boy, he just popped him,” TNT analyst Darren Pang said. “Linesman went down, did he get a…”
Pang later said while the action cooled: “That was a late pop to the jaw right there.”
Scheifele rose and then tried to go back toward Benn, but the referee prevented him from returning to his nemesis and actually helped wrestle him to the ice.
Boos started to rain down inside the Canada Life Centre, the Jets’ home arena, before Scheifele stood up again. A referee then escorted him back toward his bench.
“I wasn’t real happy with how that came out,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We were the ones that are up in the game, didn’t think we should have come out of that pileup with having the extra minor.”
Stars coach Peter DeBoer downplayed the incident.
“It’s an emotional series,” DeBoer said. “You play this time of year against one team, there gets to be a little bit of hate out there. That’s OK.”
The Jets added a goal in the final minute for the game’s final tally and avoided elimination with their triumph. The series now shifts to Dallas for Game 6 on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.
The winner meets the Oilers in the Western Conference Final.
“We don’t want to be done playing hockey and I think today showed that,” Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. “We just got to take that to the next game.”
