Nobody’s expecting a rematch Thursday night of Jonathan Toews’ surprising fight with Adam Henrique last Friday in New Jersey. Toews appeared to try to give his struggling team a spark after it fell down 2-0 to the Devils last Friday. It didn’t work, as the Devils scored 20 seconds later to make it 3-0, and went on to win 4-2.
Quenneville appreciated the gesture, but doesn’t want to see Toews dropping the gloves too often.
“That’s a fine line,” Quenneville said. “Jonny wasn’t happy with how things were going. He got excited. At the same time, you don’t want to see that happen very often. It’s very rare that it does happen with Jonny, but you don’t want your top guys fighting for a number of reasons.”
Toews said the fight happened organically, and that he wasn’t just trying to wake up his sleepwalking teammates.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “I think it was just a play that developed where both players got a little worked up there. Kind of a reaction thing. Usually, it’s not necessarily my thing, as we all know, to try and spark the team that way. I’d rather be on the ice making things happen in the offensive zone. It’s one of those things that happens, I guess.”
Henrique joked to the Newark Star-Ledger that it was “quite a long feud.”
As for a rematch? “I wouldn’t think so,” Henrique told the Star-Ledger. “Nothing that was said or done made me angry. It was a part of that game, I think.”
According to hockeyfights.com, it was just the fourth fight of Toews’ NHL career. He last fought on Feb. 15, 2013, against San Jose captain Joe Thornton, with whom he has a history. Just like last week with Henrique, Toews initiated that one with several shoves before it devolved into a full-blown fight.
“There’s always little things — players that are going to be chipping at you and trying to get under your skin,” Toews said that night. “The rest is history right now. I felt that it was something I needed to do to stand up for myself, I did it, and I’m glad I did it. I think it helped our team and we got the win, so that’s the important thing.”
