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Although Vegas came out with 7-2 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night, it was a brutal night for both sides.
At times the game felt more like brawl and the officials called it like one. There were 148 combined penalty infraction minutes throughout the night, the second-most in a Stanley Cup Final matchup, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
The only game that had more was Game 4 of the 1986 Final between Montreal and Calgary in which there were 176 penalty minutes handed out.
After a relatively calm first period, the second and third is where the temperature was really cranked up between the two teams as there were several roughing calls on each side as well as 11 misconducts.
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TKACHUK WITH A MAJOR HIT ON EICHEL 👀 pic.twitter.com/RF6vSF8WNG
Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk was the recipient of two of those misconduct calls and served a game-high 22 total penalty minutes. This comes after he was ejected in the third period of Game 1 for throwing a couple of punches on Nicolas Hague and Jack Eichel following a whistle.
Tkachuk, who helped carry Florida on this improbable postseason run, has been a non-factor through the first two games of this series as the Golden Knights have taken a commanding 2-0 lead as they head down to South Florida.
He and the Panthers will be hoping for a big bounce back in Game 3 on Thursday night.
